Taylor Sheridan may be best known for his roles as David Hale in “Sons of Anarchy” and Travis Wheatley in “Yellowstone” by Paramount+. However, his acting may not be as amazing as the films and TV shows he has written.
Sheridan started acting in the 1990s. For the rest of the decade and into the 2000s, she had a number of small parts in TV shows and movies. But his work as an actor never really took off. That’s when he found that he was good at and loved writing screenplays. After writing the pilot for “Mayor of Kingstown” in 2011, he knew that was what he was supposed to do. In a June 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sheridan said, “I was a good actor, but that was all I was ever going to be.” “If you listen, Hollywood will tell you what you should do. If you try to be an actor for 20 years and keep hitting your head against the wall, maybe you shouldn’t be an actor. But the first thing I ever wrote got me meetings with every big network and agency. I had more than one person try to buy it.”
Since writing his first feature film, “Sicario,” in 2015, Sheridan has taken Hollywood by storm with a series of works that have become huge hits with both audiences and reviewers, from “1923” to “Special Ops: Lioness.” Zoe Saldana, Nicole Kidman, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Kelly are just some of the names in the Paramount+ thriller series that came out on July 23.
If you want to see more of Sheridan’s work while you’re streaming “Special Ops: Lioness,” here are some of his best movies and TV shows.
2015’s “Sicario”
Daniel Kaluuya, Hank Rogerson, Victor Garber, and Emily Blunt starred in SICARIO in 2015, from left to right. Richard Foreman Jr./Lionsgate/courtesy Everett Collection
In “Sicario,” Sheridan’s first movie with a full cast, stars like Emily Blunt, Josh Brolin, Daniel Kaluuya, and Benicio Del Toro shine. In the movie, Blunt plays FBI special agent Kate Macer, who is sent by a CIA task team to take down a high-ranking leader of a Mexican drug cartel.
2016’s “Hell or High Water”
After their mother dies, brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster) are eager to save their in-debt family ranch. As a way to make money and keep the ranch, the two rob a number of banks, which eventually gets the attention of Texas Rangers Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham). In order to stop the robberies, the Rangers keep looking into the case and try to figure out who the mystery pair is that is doing the stealing.
2017’s “Wind River”
With “Wind River,” Sheridan wanted to bring attention to the huge number of crimes that Native Americans, especially women, face while living on reservations. In an interview with Newsweek, he said, “The social issues that Native Americans face are the same as in other parts of the country—domestic abuse, poverty, drug addiction, and alcoholism—but on the reservation, no one is watching or listening.” Jeremy Renner plays Cory Lambert in the movie. Cory is a hunter for the US Fish and Wildlife Service who finds the body of a young woman on the Wind River Indian Reservation. Jane Banner (Elizabeth Olsen), a special FBI agent, helps them look for clues to find the killer and solve the case.
The 2018 movie “Sicario: Day of the Soldado”
Josh Brolin, Benicio Del Toro, and Jeffrey Donovan star in the 2018 movie SOLDADO (also called SICARIO 2: SOLDADO). Richard Foreman Jr./Columbia/Courtesy Everett Collection
“Sicario: Day of the Soldado” is a sequel to Sheridan’s 2015 film “Sicario.” Like “Sicario,” it is about the ongoing fight between drug gangs and law enforcement. The drug war between the US and Mexico is the main focus of the movie. CIA killer Alejandro Gillick (Del Toro) and CIA officer Matt Graver (Brolin) work together to stop terrorists from getting into the country.
“Without Remorse” comes out in 2021.
Based on the same-named 1993 Tom Clancy book, “Without Remorse” stars Michael B. Jordan as Senior Chief Petty Officer John Kelly, who loses his Navy Seal unit and his pregnant wife to a series of killings done by Russian FSB agents. John is so angry and sad that he sets out to find everyone who was involved in the killings so he can get his payback and get justice.
Those Who Want Me to Die” (2021)
“Those Who Wish Me Dead” is based on Michael Koryta’s 2014 book of the same name. The movie, which stars Angelina Jolie and Jon Bernthal, is about a young boy named Connor who is lost in the Montana mountains after seeing assassins kill his father. Hannah Faber (Jolie) finds Connor while she is on duty at a nearby fire watch tower. She takes him under her wing. She doesn’t know, though, that the killers also want to kill him.
From 2018 to 2023, “Yellowstone”
Kevin Costner and Luke Grimes in “Coming Home,” episode 105 of Season 1 that aired on July 25, 2018.. photo by Emerson Miller/Paramount Network/Courtesy of Everett Collection
“Yellowstone” is a story about the Dutton family, who own the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. It is one of Sheridan’s most well-known works. The ranch is the biggest in Montana, and because of that, the family often has problems with other people, like people who live on the Broken Rock Indian Reservation and people who want to build on the land. “Yellowstone” has five seasons and is part of a larger universe that also includes other shows by Sheridan.
“The Mayor of Kingstown” (2021)
Sheridan and Jeremy Renner worked together again on the crime drama series “Mayor of Kingstown.” The show, which has two seasons so far, is about the powerful McLusky family of Kingstown, Michigan, and how they deal with corruption and crime in the for-profit jail business. In a town with systemic racism, corrupt cops, and economic inequality, everyone is on their own, no matter who they are or where they come from.
“1883” (2021)
The limited series is a prequel to “Yellowstone,” and it’s about a generation of the Dutton family in the Old West during the late 1800s when people were still exploring after the Civil War. The father of the family, James Dutton, played by Tim McGraw, decides that the family should move from Tennessee to Oregon, which is in the west. The trip has its ups and downs, and even though the family originally wanted to go to Oregon, they end up settling in Montana and starting what will become the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch.
“Tulsa King” (the year 2022)
In “Tulsa King,” Sylvester Stallone plays Dwight Manfredi, the boss of the Invernizzi Mafia. He just got out of jail after 25 years for murder and wants to start over. Manfredi goes to Tulsa, OK, on his boss’s orders to grow the Invernizzi family business and put down new roots in the city.
“1923” (2022)
“1923” is a sequel to “1883” and a prequel to “Yellowstone.” It tells the story of another generation of the Dutton family as they fight to keep control of their land during the Western Expansion, the Great Depression, Prohibition, and the drought of the early 20th century. Harrison Ford plays an older version of Jacob Dutton, the head of the Dutton family, who was played by Tim McGraw in “1883.”
“Special Ops: Lioness” comes out in 2023.
In Sheridan’s newest series, “Special Ops: Lioness,” Zoe Saldana plays Joe, a Marine who teams up with Cruz Manuelos (Laysla De Oliveira) to befriend the daughter of a suspected terrorist and bring down the group without being found out.
