The release dates for Yellowstone season 4 and its prequel series, 1883, have been announced. Yellowstone, created by Taylor Sheridan, focuses on the Dutton family, led by Kevin Costner's patriarch John Dutton, a Montana rancher embroiled in the constant struggle of competitors attempting to take his land. After three seasons, the show has amassed an incredible following, and the 1883 prequel series was announced a short while ago, which will star Sam Elliot, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, showing the origins of the Dutton family from the beginning.
In addition to both Yellowtone and 1883, is Sheridan's previously announced Mayor of Kingstown starring Jeremy Renner and Dianne Wiest, which focuses on another family, The McLusky's, who deal in the business of incarceration in Michigan. Sheridan first made a name for himself as an actor appearing in F/X's Sons of Anarchy, but later became a much sought-after screenwriter after scripting hits like Sicario and Hell or High Water, as well as directing the Jeremy Renner/Elizabeth Olsen thriller, Wind River, and Angelina Jolie's recent HBO Max film, Those Who Wish Me Dead.
As announced in a new report from EW, Yellowstone season 4 will debut on Paramount+ on November 7th, 2021, featuring the return of the Dutton family led by Costner. The prequel series, 1883, will debut on December 19th, 2021. And, finally, Sheridan's new series, The Mayor of Kingstown, starring Jeremy Renner and Dianne Wiest, was announced to debut on November 14th, 2021. Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of MTV Entertainment (which produces the series for Paramount+) stressed that these new debuts were part of an overall strategy to expand Taylor Sheridan's world building that began with Yellowstone. Read McCarthy's statement below:
"Our strategy is to make Yellowstone, the massive No. 1 hit with more than 10 million fans, into a global hit franchise under the incredible creative vision of Taylor Sheridan's world-building storytelling."
For Sheridan, it appears that he'll be calling Paramount+ home for a good while, but that hasn't stopped his feature endeavors. The prolific writer/director has also taken time to pen the Michael B. Jordan-led Without Remorse for Amazon Prime, as well as the Sicario sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado. He's also written a new thriller, Fast, which will be directed by Gavin O'Connor. With Yellowstone, Sheridan has said that there's a definitive ending to the series, but has not indicated how many seasons it will take to get there.
With the uptick in streaming content and the proliferation of the streaming wars, it's no surprise that Paramount+ would lean into Taylor Sheridan's work to help entice viewership. With 10 million fans behind Yellowstone, it's hard to ignore that impact and creating spinoff shows that directly relate or are similar in theme should certainly bolster viewership and, more importantly, subscription numbers. Yellowstone is the flagship show of the streamer, so hooking more viewers with Sheridan's brand makes perfect sense and is sure to continue to attract A-list talent to his stories.
Source: EW