Taylor Sheridan doesn’t seem too worried about that rumored Yellowstone scuttlebutt that’s constantly popping up in headlines. That is to say, the Paramount+ TV king hasn’t vocalized concern about finishing the second half of Season 5 (which will supposedly film in late 2024), and perhaps that’s because he has approximately 327 other TV shows currently in the works.
Among many other selections, there’s Land Man along with more Tulsa King, The Mayor Of Kingstown, and 1923 on the way. As if that wasn’t enough, Sheridan is preparing a return to the big screen, too. The Hell Or High Water and Sicario writer has stepped up as both writer and director of the upcoming Empire Of The Summer Moon. This project didn’t exactly come out of the blue for him, so let’s discuss what has been revealed thus far.
Plot
Sheridan actually shot the breeze about this book during his recent visit with Joe Rogan, and as Deadline recently reported, this has been a Sheridan passion project for quite some time. Long ago, the project seemed destined to be a Warner Bros. flick, but that appears to no longer be the case. Will Paramount somehow be involved? Stay tuned for more there, but Sheridan is producing under his Bosque Ranch Productions umbrella.
Empire Of The Summer Moon will be based upon S.C. Gwynne’s book, Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History. This nonfiction work traces the life of pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker as well as that of her mixed-blood child, Quanah, who rose as the final and most celebrated Comanche chief. The book also spans four decades of history to detail clashes between white settlers in America and the Comanche tribe.
Comanches were extraordinarily successful fighters with children among their ranks during battle. The tribe managed to drive back the French from moving past Louisiana and did the same for colonial Spain by way of Mexico. Deadline has revealed more details about the action to come:
Part of the story involves Quanah’s mother, Cynthia Ann Parker, who was 9 when she was kidnapped by the Comanches and was a model for the young kidnapped girl in The Searchers. In the real story, Parker was married with a child when the rescue attempt was made, and she didn’t want to leave because she had no memory of life before she was taken.
Quanah and the Comanches drove back the Spanish and French, but the settlers coming from the Eastern states were more formidable. They created the Texas Rangers and fortified them with the six gun, for which the Comanches had no answer.
Cast
Sheridan has stayed mum on casting updates, although we should hear more updates on that note soon.
Release Date
Bosque Ranch Productions has not yet revealed a release date for the movie.
Trailer
We’re as eager to see a trailer as you are, so we will be awaiting further news. For now, here’s a clip from Sheridan’s recent visit with Joe Rogan. They discuss the Empire Of The Summer Moon book after the 4:00 mark.