How NBCUniversal signed Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan
NBCUniversal Entertainment chair Donna Langley has explained how she lured Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan away after his decade at Paramount.
Speaking at Bloomberg's Screentime event, Langley said she started pursuing Sheridan after she "saw an opportunity" created by disruption and instability at Paramount, according to Variety. News of Sheridan's move to NBCUniversal first broke in late October 2025.
Langley said her early conversations with Sheridan centred on film. His Paramount film agreement was a first-look deal, meaning Paramount got first refusal on his movie ideas, and carried less weight than his television commitments. That distinction shaped the approach.
The resulting deal is staggered over several years. The film part is expected to take effect in 2026. The television part will follow later, after Sheridan fulfils existing contractual obligations to Paramount in 2028.
Sheridan is best known to most viewers as the creator of Yellowstone, the ranch drama that premiered in 2018. Before that breakthrough in television, he built his name as a screenwriter on the films Sicario, Hell or High Water and Wind River.
That one series grew into a much larger slate. Yellowstone spawned spinoffs including 1923, The Madison and Dutton Ranch, while Sheridan also created Lioness, Landman, Mayor of Kingstown and Marshals.
He still has unfinished business at his old home. Sheridan wrote the scripts for Paramount's upcoming Call of Duty movie and Sicario 3, which remain with that studio.
For fans, this means a wait. Films will come first under the new Universal home, but new Sheridan television for NBCUniversal cannot fully begin until his Paramount obligations end. The favour shown to film was practical. It was the door that opened first.
