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When Sheridan’s contract with Paramount expires in 2028, he will join NBCUniversal on a five-year film, TV and streaming deal set to begin in 2029, per Deadline
Taylor Sheridan, the Fort Worth-raised show creator whose hits have made Paramount a formidable competitor in an era of fierce streaming wars, is expected to leave the network for a new deal with NBCUniversal.
When Sheridan’s contract with Paramount expires in 2028, he will join NBCU on a five-year film, TV and streaming deal set to begin in 2029, according to Deadline.
Puck first reported the move, which Sheridan’s publicist, Bebe Lerner, confirmed to The Dallas Morning News.
Sheridan’s TV slate, which includes Yellowstone, Lioness and Landman, will continue to live on the Paramount+ streamer after he migrates to NBCU. His shows have increasingly been filmed around North Texas and he planted firmer roots in the region earlier this year when he opened a production campus in Fort Worth backed by an investment from Paramount.
After the merger between Paramount and Skydance Global in August, David Ellison, CEO of the new company, praised Sheridan as “a singular genius” on CNBC’s Squawk on the Street.
“My goal is to have Taylor call Paramount his home for as long as he wants to be telling stories,” Ellison said.
Since the merger, several executives who worked closely with Sheridan have left Paramount or were reassigned, Puck reported. Paramount Skydance is also expected to begin layoffs of nearly 2,000 employees this week.
Paramount’s former co-CEO Chris McCarthy told Bloomberg Businessweek in April that when he assumed leadership of the network in 2019, it had considered canceling Yellowstone as a cost-cutting measure.
The Western drama, which would later spawn a universe due to its popularity, centers around a Montana ranching family’s quest to stave off outsiders who seek to encroach on their sprawling land.
To court coastal audiences, McCarthy moved the show from airing on Wednesday nights to Sunday nights, a slot associated with prestige TV, Bloomberg reported. He also encouraged Sheridan to go bigger with visuals.
“We were the place of last resort, so we weren’t going to get the pitches,” McCarthy said, referring to Paramount+. “We knew we had to actually figure it out on our own.”
Sheridan conveyed a sense of allegiance to McCarthy.
“I sure hope that if this merger takes place, they have the foresight to keep him,” he told Bloomberg in April. “I don’t know of another executive that I could do this with.”
