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Taylor Sheridan currently has a monopoly on TV. Taylor Sheridan, who started his career as an actor in shows like Sons of Anarchy, reinvented himself as a screenwriter and director. He wrote the scripts for the highly acclaimed blockbusters Sicario, Wind River, and Hell or High Water, three of the greatest films of the 2010s.
Sheridan has revolutionised the neo-Western genre with these and his colossal television show Yellowstone. Without question, Yellowstone is among the finest TV shows of the contemporary period. Thanks to its popularity, Sheridan has already launched two spin-off prequel series for Paramount Plus, 1883 and 1923, and there are yet many more to come.
Unlike Yellowstone, 1883 and 1923 are classic Westerns that are set in the years following the American Civil War and the growth of the American frontier, and they harken back to that era’s finest cinematic works. For the two series, Sheridan was able to use his standing and influence to entice a lot of the top names in Hollywood to join the cast of Yellowstone. Sam Elliott, a seasoned actor, is in charge of 1883, while Helen Mirren, Timothy Dalton, and Robert Patrick make 1923 even more of a star. Harrison Ford, too!
Harrison Ford had to sign on blind, only persuaded by the power of Sheridan’s presentation and vision. Sheridan was able to convince Ford to join the project without even giving the actor a chance to view the screenplay. Ford served as the star of the second Yellowstone spin-off was a major victory for Sheridan and evidence that the franchise would endure. Ford might not even have been Sheridan’s best acquisition.
No other than Tom Hanks makes a brief appearance as General George Meade in 1883’s second episode. Hanks has a little part, and his time on screen is brief. Nevertheless, Sheridan was on the verge of breaking a four-decade Hollywood tradition with the inclusion of both Hanks and Ford in his TV franchise.
Since Hanks’ first appearance in the 1980 film He Knows You’re Alone, Ford and Hanks have both been prominent figures in Hollywood. Despite being two of the greatest performers of all time, they have never worked together on a single project.
Despite the fact that they both frequently worked with Steven Spielberg and produced some of the greatest films ever, no director has ever been able to combine their abilities for the same film due to their roles as leading males. The closest that Sheridan has gotten to breaching this unwritten Hollywood norm is by casting both Ford and Hanks in the same franchise. Hanks would have destroyed it completely if he had performed his cameo in 1923 as opposed to 1883.