This is the first of a two-part series about Taylor Sheridan and the Emmys
Among the most fascinating Emmys-related mysteries, to me, is why the TV Academy has so consistently overlooked the shows of Taylor Sheridan, the prolific TV creator behind the Yellowstone televisual universe — Yellowstone (2018-2024), 1883 (2021), 1923 (2022), Marshals (2026-) and Dutton Ranch (2026-) — as well as Mayor of Kingstown (2021-), Tulsa King (2022-), Lawmen: Bass Reeves (2023), Lioness (2023-), Landman (2024-) and The Madison (2026-).
Sheridan’s shows have all attracted massive viewership. Most received strong reviews. (Rotten Tomatoes has Yellowstone at 83 percent, 1883 at 89 percent, Tulsa King at 88 percent, 1923 at 94 percent and Landman at 80 percent with critics.) And several garnered nominations, and even wins, from important Emmys precursors: Yellowstone’s fourth season was nominated for the top Producers Guild, Critics Choice and Actor awards, and Kevin Costner won a Golden Globe for season five. For 1883, Sam Elliott won an Actor Award. And, for Landman’s first season, Billy Bob Thornton was nominated for a Globe, while its second season was nominated for Actor Awards for best drama series ensemble and stunt ensemble, and brought Thornton a Critics Choice nom.
And yet, between them all, they have collected a grand total of only nine Emmy nominations, none in above-the-line categories — just production design for Yellowstone’s third season, score and two for cinematography for 1883, stunt coordination for Tulsa King’s first two seasons, stunt coordination for Lioness’ second season, and costumes and production design for 1923’s second season — and zero wins.
All of which begs the questions: What is going on here? And could things change this Emmys cycle, with Landman, a show about a family in the oil business, in the running for its second season, and The Madison, a show about a family from the city that relocates to the open country following a tragedy, in the running for its first?
Landman, in particular, is heading into this year’s Emmys nominations voting window — June 11-22 — looking like a real possibility. Here are three things that it has going for and three things that it has going against it…
FOR IT
1) Popularity
People really like the show, which is now the most-watched original series in the history of Paramount+. “We were very surprised it became an international hit,” Thornton recently said. “We thought it was going to appeal to Middle America, maybe not even the coasts.” Instead, it turns out its blend of high-stakes drama (from danger on the derricks to crimes of the cartels) and silly comedy (just about everything involving Ali Larter and Michelle Randolph’s mother-daughter characters) plays just about everywhere, to say nothing of the pretty people who populate it.
Does popularity always result in awards? No. One commenter on Reddit argued, “McDonald’s is an incredibly popular restaurant, but it’s not getting a Michelin star.” That’s a cute line, but likening Landman to McDonald’s is unfairly dismissive, and TV shows as popular — and, frankly, soapy — as Landman have a long history of being rewarded at the Emmys: Dynasty got 24 noms (including best drama series and five for acting) and one win; Dallas got 21 noms (including two for best drama series and seven for acting) and four wins (one for acting); and Empire got eight noms (two for acting).
2) Performances
The show features a large ensemble of first-rate actors — some veteran household names (e.g. Thornton, Elliott, Demi Moore and Andy Garcia), others real discoveries (e.g. Randolph and Paulina Chávez) — giving excellent performances. This isn’t just my opinion, it’s the opinion of the world’s largest union of actors, SAG-AFTRA, based on that best cast Actor Award nomination earlier this year. And what is the largest of the TV Academy’s peer groups, which all get to vote for best drama series? That’s right, performers.
At every opportunity, the stars of Landman trip over themselves to give credit for their performances to the two former actors who oversee the show: Sheridan, who casts his shows so well and tailors his characters to the strengths of his actors, and Stephen Kay, who directs many of Sheridan’s shows, including Landman (six of the 10 episodes of season one and all 10 episodes of season two).
3) Production value
Landman looks great on a small screen, but to better appreciate how well made it is, it helps to see it on a big screen, which is why its backers have been screening episodes of it in theaters at every opportunity this season, including at its jam-packed official FYC event at the TV Academy in North Hollywood, where they screened its season two finale. On that scale, its gorgeous cinematography by Robert McLachlan and production design by Charisse Cardenas really take your breath away.
Sheridan is a filmmaker — he was Oscar-nominated for writing best picture Oscar nominee Hell or High Water and also wrote 2015’s Sicario, wrote and directed 2017’s Wind River and wrote 2018’s Sicario: Day of the Soldado — and his mandate each season, Kay told me, is, “You’re making a 10-hour movie.”
AGAINST IT
1) Taylor Sheridan
Unfortunately, Sheridan himself is probably the biggest obstacle to the TV Academy embracing his shows. People know little about him, largely because he doesn’t seem to care to help them to get to know him — he pretty much stays on his 270,000-acre ranch in Texas — and what they have heard about him, accurate or not, has been largely unflattering.
Additionally, many assume that his politics are Trumpy because his shows tend to be set in the heartland and go out of their way to mock people from the coasts, where most of the entertainment industry is based, for being absurdly “woke” — word-policing liberals, vegans and, on Landman specifically, gender non-binary scolds — not to mention ignorant about fracking, wind turbines and all manner of other things. (In fairness, he also seems to be quite a big environmentalist, and often includes respectful portraits of Hispanic and Native American characters on his shows.)
Just because you choose to depict something on screen doesn’t mean you personally endorse or encourage it — I don’t think the creators of, say, Succession or Veep believe their characters are good role models — but Sheridan does himself no favors by almost always refusing to discuss his work with the press. That made his decision to go on Joe Rogan’s podcast in 2024 all the more disconcerting to many.
But Thornton recently pushed back on assumptions about Sheridan’s politics: “I think people assume Taylor is some sort of right-wing guy or something, and he’s really not. Even with this show being about the oil business, he just shows you what it’s like. He’s not saying, ‘Rah, rah, rah for oil.’” What might help more, though, is if Sheridan were willing to answer some questions himself.
2) Women
Sheridan has long faced accusations that he is a misogynist who doesn’t write female characters well. This has somehow become accepted wisdom in some circles, despite the fact that many of the finest actresses in Hollywood have chosen to work with him and feel that he has given them some of the best parts of their careers — among them, Landman’s Larter and Moore, as well as Kelly Reilly of Yellowstone and Dutton Ranch, Oscar nominee Michelle Pfeiffer of The Madison and Oscar winners Nicole Kidman and Zoe Saldaña of Lioness and Helen Mirren of 1923. He has also given big breaks to gifted young actresses including Randolph and Chávez, as well as Isabel May of 1883 and 1923.
Kay says of Sheridan, “He used to joke that that Beth [Reilly’s character on Yellowstone and Dutton Ranch] was the man he always wished he could be,” and adds, “There’s a reason that really talented actors want to play these women. And I think it’s because they have great words to say.”
3) Platform
Paramount+, which debuted in 2021, is obviously watched by a lot of people, but it has not yet embraced by Emmys voters as a “prestige” platform in the way that, say, HBO, Netflix and FX have been. Other newer platforms were essentially welcomed into the club on the back of one show that really broke through — for Hulu, it was The Handmaid’s Tale; for Prime Video, it was The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel; and for Apple, it was Ted Lasso.
Yellowstone should have had that effect for Paramount+, but because of a complicated rights deal, new episodes were only available on Paramount Network, then could only be purchased on Amazon until 90 days after a season’s finale, at which time they began to be offered for streaming on Peacock — and the problems went on from there.
If Yellowstone had emanated from Netflix, as was almost the case — the streamer pursued it when Robert Redford was attached to star as John Dutton — I suspect things might have been very different.
Here’s another way of illustrating the importance of a platform: Succession and Yellowstone are essentially the same show, just set in very different places. Both are about the adult children of a rich and emotionally-distant man, vying with each other for his affection and ultimately to succeed him. Both debuted in June 2018, the former on HBO and the latter on, well, see above. One got tons of Emmys. And the other got none.
Eventually, perhaps, the members of the TV Academy — who are presented with way more television than any human can possibly watch before casting their ballots — will start reflexively checking out Paramount+ in the way that they do other platforms that consistently deliver award-worthy content. The only question is whether enough of them are already doing that to help Landman.
