New series 'Yellowstone' became an instant hit on streaming, but the major change in direction didn't win everyone over

The name of the American filmmaker Taylor Sheridan has become synonymous with some of the most popular series released in recent years, but the new series in the “Yellowstone” universe created by him did not convince some fans.

Given the success of 2018's “Yellowstone,” its spin-off series, and other productions by the 55-year-old Sheridan, it's no surprise that the new series “Marshals: A Yellowstone Story” had a strong streaming debut.

Data from FlixPatrol, a reference site that monitors the popularity of various movies and series available on the major streaming platforms in real time, shows that “Marshals” has climbed to the second position in the ranking of the most watched series of Paramount+, behind only “South Park”.

The internal ranking published by SkyShowtime, the streaming platform that broadcasts in Romania and the rest of Europe the majority of Paramount+ productions, shows that the new series “Yellowstone” climbed to the first position after its debut on March 2. The series will have a total of 13 episodes, with a new one to be released on SkyShowtime every Tuesday.

Atypically, and perhaps as a sign of the popularity the “Yellowstone” productions have also enjoyed in Europe, SkyShowtime is streaming it concurrently with episodic releases in the US, on TV on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

The new series “Yellowstone” is a special one

“Marshals” breaks with the tradition of the many productions derived from “Yellowstone” in the way it is constructed. Unlike “1883” – the series with Tim McGraw, Sam Elliott and Faith Hill – and “1923” – the one with Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, which functioned as prologue stories exploring the history of the Dutton family, Marshals is a “sequel”.

According to ScreenRant, its story revolves around Kayce Dutton and his future after the conclusion of the original “Yellowstone” story. Instead of going back in time, this spin-off looks forward to the franchise's future.

“Marshals” is also the first spin-off series from “Yellowstone” that doesn't focus on the family farm or running a farm in general. Instead, the production has a more action-oriented tone with a procedural structure, very different from the types of stories Kayce was going through in the original series.

Variety notes that of all the members of the Dutton family, Kayce has long been the closest to a conventional hero figure: a military veteran and loving husband to Monica (played by Kelsey Asbille), a Native American from the fictional Broken Rock Reservation in Montana. His marriage often puts Kayce at odds with his own family.

When Pete Calvin (Logan Marshall-Green), Kayce's former war buddy, asks Kayce to join the tactical unit he leads within the US Marshals, the proposal turns the prodigal son of the Dutton family into a law enforcement man.

The series “Marshals: A Yellowstone Story” was not written by Taylor Sheridan

Aside from the story's timeline, the other big change for “Marshals” is that it's one of the very few series associated with Sheridan that wasn't created by him — a filmmaker notorious for his involvement in all stages of the production process, who at one point claimed he had no idea what a script coordinator did.

For most of his series, including those outside the “Yellowstone” universe such as “The Mayor of Kingstown” or “Lioness”, Taylor Sheridan is both creator, writer, director and executive producer. Instead, the new “Marshals” series is only “based on characters created by” Sheridan and John Linson, who co-created “Yellowstone” with him.

And Sheridan was in this case only an executive producer of the new series produced by CBS, as he was for “Lawmen: Bass Reeves,” the 2023 series that may also be familiar to “Yellowstone” fans. Unlike “Lawmen,” however, the new series was largely panned by film critics, with a mere 43% approval rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

As for fans, they rate it 6.9 / 10 on IMDb, but the number of reviews is still low, under 1,000 at the time of writing. The grade isn't catastrophic, but it's a long way behind previous “Yellowstone” series.

“1883” has an IMDb rating of 8.6 / 10, on par with the original series that ended in 2024, while “1923” has an 8.3 / 10. Even “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” fares a little better, with a 7.3 / 10, while “Landman”, another series for which Sheridan filled all the important roles, has an 8.2 / 10. However, Variety magazine concludes that the new series is not necessarily one to ignore:

“'Marshals' doesn't have the ostentatious sheen of a true Sheridan project; it's not 'Landman,' where teenagers have alarmingly direct discussions about sex with their parents and Billy Bob Thornton swears non-stop. It's a more modest, less volatile and therefore perhaps more sustainable way to expand 'Yellowstone' into an even more mainstream space after it's already conquered popular culture. These sheriffs are here to do their job with minimal agitation, and the series that bears their name does the same.”