Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan revealed how a disagreement with Paramount resulted in the creation of the spin-off series 1923.

The Yellowstone universe has become one of the biggest IPs currently owned by Paramount and created by Taylor Sheridan. The flagship series ended last year after five seasons.

However, the universe continues with several spin-off shows, including the prequel series 1883, which tells the origin story for the Dutton family.

During an interview, Sheridan reflected on creating the backstory for the Duttons. At the same time, the showrunner admitted that he had one disagreement with Paramount, which directly resulted in 1883 getting just one season.

As a result, Sheridan had to become creative, leading to the birth of the 1923 spin-off, and here is what he had to say.

Taylor Sheridan thought Paramount only wanted one season of his Yellowstone prequel

Taylor Sheridan has emerged as one of the most prolific producers in Hollywood, primarily due to the success of his Yellowstone universe. After the success of the Kevin Costner-led series, Sheridan was tapped by Paramount to create a prequel series for its streaming platform.

A still from Taylor Sheridan’s 1883 (Credit: Paramount+).

During an interview with Deadline, Sheridan revealed that when he crafted the story for the spin-off/prequel series 1883, he wasn’t aware that Paramount wanted multiple seasons. As a result, he wrote a finite story, which concluded with most of the main characters dying at the end of the first season.

After reading the scripts for the episodes, Sheridan admitted that Paramount Global’s then-President Bob Bakish was surprised at the character deaths since he was under the impression that the series would receive a second season, with Sheridan stating:

The story I heard is Bob Bakish watched it and said, ‘wait a minute, she dies! They all die? What do we do in season two?’ I said, there is no season two.

Sheridan expressed surprise at the revelation, attributing it to a miscommunication, which resulted in the writer-director creating a story that only lasted for one season, despite Paramount later expressing an interest in picking it up for season 2.

Taylor Sheridan’s mistake is the reason we have 1923

After the Paramount executives demanded a second season, Sheridan admitted that he was initially baffled since most of the main characters were dead. As a result, he disagreed with the executives over how to continue the story, especially since they wanted Sam Elliott’s Shea Brennan to survive his suicide attempt in the finale.

A still from Taylor Sheridan’s 1923 (Credit: Paramount+).

Sheridan revealed that he quickly dismissed the idea and started searching for new ways to continue the story. He studied Montana’s history to come up with more story ideas, including the post-World War I era, which became the backdrop for a new spin-off.

Eventually, the showrunner realized that the Dutton family could skip a generation, resulting in the idea for the 1923 spin-off.

It’s the one great thing about the Dutton family; you can skip generations and put them in all these unique situations.

Sheridan made the above statement, explaining that the spin-offs didn’t need to be an extension of each other and could be only loosely connected. He later recalled actress Isabel May to reprise her role as Elsa Dutton, serving as the spin-off’s narrator to create a link between the two prequels. As a result, it is safe to say that 1923 would not have happened without Sheridan’s disagreement with Paramount executives.

1883 and 1923 are currently streaming on Paramount+ (USA).