Renee Zellweger looks to the distance in AppaloosaImage via New Line Cinema
You can almost tell that making Yellowstone was the guarantor that Taylor Sheridan needed to work on his passion project — epic series set in the Old West, paying tribute to the classics of the Western genre. When Yellowstone emerged as the defining television hit of the early 2020s, Sheridan was essentially given a blank check to make whatever he wanted. He created several hit shows across various genres for Paramount+. Each of them — Lioness, Landman, Mayor of Kingstown, and Tulsa King — continues to air successfully to this day. But he also managed to score mammoth budgets for two Yellowstone prequels — 1883 and 1923, which cost more than $500 million combined. The success of these shows facilitated a new wave of interest in Westerns, and one of the most underrated titles of the last two decades is now accessible for free.
The movie could serve as a spin-off to Sheridan’s Yellowstone prequels; it’s set in the year 1882, and follows a marshal and his deputy on a mission to restore order to a lawless New Mexico town overrun by a wicked rancher. The movie was directed by Ed Harris, who also plays the lead role; Viggo Mortensen and Renée Zellweger appear in supporting roles, while Jeremy Irons plays the villainous rancher. This was Harris’ first directorial effort since the biopic Pollock, which was released eight years earlier, in 2000.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor Sheridan Show Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
Yellowstone
Landman
Tulsa King
Mayor of Kingstown
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
10
When it’s over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
Yellowstone
Landman
Tulsa King
Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
This Old-Fashioned Western With a Stellar Cast Is Streaming for Free
We’re talking, of course, about Appaloosa. Released in 2008, the movie grossed $27 million worldwide against a reported budget of $20 million. It’s safe to say that the Western genre wasn’t doing as well back then as it is now. Before Sheridan’s shows, only Quentin Tarantino and the Coen Brothers could get meaningful traction with old-fashioned Westerns. Even 3:10 to Yuma, the well-received movie starring Russell Crowe and Christian Bale, underperformed with $71 million worldwide against a $55 million budget a year prior to Appaloosa. Harris’ film was rather well-received, which makes it ripe for rediscovery on streaming. It now holds a “Certified Fresh” 77% score on the aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, where the consensus reads, “A traditional genre Western, Appaloosa sets itself apart with smart psychology, an intriguing love triangle, and good chemistry between the leads.” You can watch Appaloosa for free this month on Tubi, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
