‘Yellowstone’ Creator Taylor Sheridan Is Leaving Paramount

In a shocking move, Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan is leaving Paramount.

The Academy Award-nominated director and TV titan is jumping ship to NBCUniversal.

An article from Puck broke the news on Sunday night, stating that NBC will be the exclusive home of all of Sheridan’s future film and TV projects.

His film deal with the company lasts eight years and will begin in March, and his TV deal will last for five and begin in 2028 after he fulfills his obligations on his currently-airing shows (like Tulsa King and the various Yellowstone spinoffs) with Paramount.

According to the article, the reason for Sheridan’s departure wasn’t because he was seeking a big pay day from NBC—it was his distaste with how Paramount is running after David Ellison bought the company in August and made himself CEO.

It’s strange that Ellison just let Sheridan leave, as a majority of the well-received content on Paramount+ has Sheridan’s name attached. In August, Ellison told CNBC that Sheridan was a “singular genius” and that his “goal is to have Taylor call Paramount his home for as long as he wants to be telling stories.”

But despite that quote, he had failed to lock down Sheridan’s TV contract or give him the film deal he desired.

Supposedly, Sheridan was “hearing about how Paramount+ needed to be revamped, and about how expensive his shows had become,” according to the Puck article. Two of Sheridan’s closest allies in the executive offices were fired during the Paramount merger with Ellison’s company Skydance, and even more will be fired this week.

Again, this is an extremely shocking move given that any TV series with Sheridan’s name on it regularly sits at the top of the Nielsen charts. In three years from now, those shows will have a brand new home.