Taylor Sheridan’s New Series Is a Big Change for the Yellowstone Creator

Taylor Sheridan has built an entire television empire out of stories of land, legacy and powerful families attempting to cling desperately to both. After spending most of his time in his native America, Sheridan’s brand of drama is about to make a big location change and head for higher ground with his new series set to begin filming in the Scottish Highlands in the UK.

Currently under the title of The Laird, Sheridan’s latest entry in his sprawling library of series and movies is a striking departure from the dusty roads and fields of the Dutton Ranch or Landman‘s oilfields, and even further flung from the criminal world of Tulsa King or war-torn story of Lioness. Yet, despite traveling across the Atlantic for The Laird, it is possible that the new story may not be too far removed from his Yellowstone franchise after all.

According to The Sun, The Laird is expected to begin filming this month on location in Scotland. An insider told the UK outlet, “This drama is likely to explore the links between Scotland and America, which is a theme that has come up in previous shows such as Yellowstone. That western featured the Dutton family who revealed they originated in the Scottish Highlands, and in the 18th and 19th centuries huge numbers of Scots emigrated across the Atlantic to start new lives. In a darker chapter of the country’s history, many Scots also became involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, becoming rich landowners in the process and giving their names to many of the slaves they owned.”

The series will centre on the owner of a large Scottish country estate — the laird or the title — and explore the historical links noted above. This is not the first time Sheridan has explored a historical period, as his Yellowstone prequels 1883 and 1923 both took a step back in the previous generations of the Dutton Ranch. While this new seires will the first from Sheridan to be set entirely outside the US, it could be that there will be some connections between the characters of Yellowstone hinted at or explicitly explored thanks to their known ancestry.

Taylor Sheridan Has Made His Shows a Brand of Their Own

Sheridan has turned Yellowstone into a sprawling universe. As well as his two prequel series,  — with  another, 1944, on the way — plus sequels and spinoffs like Dutton Ranch and Marshals, it seems there is always room for another branch of the Dutton history. The family has almost become to Sheridan what Alex Cross is to James Patterson, no matter what other characters he dreams up, something seems to always pull back to the Duttons at some point.

Sheridan has been forced to delegate some of the work to others in the last few years, as there are only so many hours in the day and with several other prominent shows and movies still ongoing, he can only stretch so far. What is notable is that having so many plates spinning clearly has not slowed down the writer/producer/director’s creative mind and he is always looking for what is next. It would seem that The Laird will be next to extend his signature themes of family bloodlines, inheritance, ownership, and power into new territory.

Because The Laird is explicitly built around the connection between Scotland and America, speculation has quickly reared its head about whether a direct link to the ancestors of the Duttons could be pivotal for the show. The Dutton family have been described as tracing their roots back to the Scottish Highlands before emigrating across the Atlantic. The Laird could reasonably be Sheridan’s way of diving even deeper into the history of his favorite family dynasty, even further back than he went in 1883.  

The Laird Could Be a Replacement for Outlander Fans

For now, it is just a theory, but it is one that has plenty of seeds already lain by Sheridan. Nothing official has linked The Laird to the Duttons, and it is entirely possible that the prolific creator is just planning his next saga with a brand new family and a brand new location. The Scotland-to-America framing already could be looking to emulate the success of another period epic, Outlander, which is leaving a gap in the transatlantic drama market.

Enormous numbers of Scots emigrated across the Atlantic during the 18th and 19th centuries, many going on to become wealthy landowners in the New World. This is exactly the kind of grand and sweeping story that Sheridan excels at building. Whether taking his lead from his own fictional Dutton history or the real history of the bridge between the Scottish Highlands and the American frontier, it seems like The Laird will be just another hit from Sheridan’s stable.  

Whether The Laird turns out to be a stealth Yellowstone origin story or something complexly original, it is clear that Sheridan’s TV domination is not about to slow down following his recent shift in allegiance from Paramount to NBCUniversal. We will know more as filming progresses, and by his usual standards, we should see the result early in 2027.

(featured image: Paramount+)

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