Taylor Sheridan’s New Series Isn't A Yellowstone Spinoff – And That’s A Good Thing

Taylor Sheridan’s new 6-part neo-Western series The Madison may look like a Yellowstone spinoff, but it is actually the furthest thing from it. Starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell, The Madison opened to strong reviews and earned an 85% Rotten Tomatoes score hours before its premiere. It’s projected to be the #1 most-watched Paramount+ show in the coming days and is one of Screen Rant’s top picks for the best new shows to watch this weekend.

With its 3-episode premiere launching on Paramount+ on Saturday, March 14, 2026, followed by a second 3-episode drop on the 21st, Sheridan fans may be expecting some signature Yellowstone elements from The Madison. After all, it takes place in rural Montana, and was originally titled 2024, similar to Sheridan’s other Yellowstone spinoffs, 1883 and 1923. However, the fact that The Madison ended up not being related to Yellowstone at all, despite initial reports and speculation, is actually the best thing about the new Paramount+ series.

The Madison Is Better Off Not Being A Yellowstone Spinoff

Before becoming The Madison, the new Taylor Sheridan original series was meant to be a direct sequel to Yellowstone, titled 2024. The only real connections between the two series, however, are their contemporary timelines, shared neo-Western and family drama genres, and setting in rural Montana. Besides these tones and themes, The Madison is entirely separate from Yellowstone, following the Clyburn family rather than the Duttons.

The Clyburns, led by family matriarch Stacy Clyburn (Pfeiffer) and her husband, Preston (Russell), are very established in New York City, raising their children in Manhattan, which has its positives and negatives. Similar to Yellowstone, the modern American West becomes a mythical landscape that is awed at for its bare-bones natural offerings, stripping its city-slicker characters of all their societal expectations, cultural conditions, and fast-paced, materialistic lifestyles.

With this new family and premise, The Madison is able to tap into new stories that may have otherwise felt like a cheap continuation of Yellowstone in 2024. With Marshals, the new Yellowstone sequel series on CBS, already taking the reins of the Yellowstone franchise in 2026, The Madison, or 2024, might have run the risk of clogging up Sheridan’s celebrated franchise with an excess of prequels, sequels, and spinoffs. Instead, like Sheridan achieved with his hit series Landman, The Madison is wisely given proper space to tell its own story.

Yellowstone Already Has 3 Spinoff Series & More In Development

After premiering on March 1, Marshals is, unfortunately, a prime example of what too many spinoff series can do to a celebrated franchise. Despite its gripping premise, following Kayce Dutton reuniting with an old SEAL teammate to become a modern-day US Marshal, the highly anticipated series has been ripped apart by critics and viewers alike, resulting in Rotten Tomatoes scores of 47% (critics) and 31% (audience). This is a strong indicator that the Yellowstone franchise needs more quality series than forced or rushed sequels.

Hopefully, that will be the case with Yellowstone’s two other spinoff series in the works, Dutton Ranch, a sequel, and 1944, a prequel. Yet another Yellowstone spinoff series, 6666, was also announced but has been placed on an indefinite hold. All these series, like Marshals, will inevitably be compared to the heights of the cultural phenomenon that became Yellowstone during its 5-season run from 2018 to 2024. Sure, that announced Matthew McConaughey sequel series likely would have been a hit, but at least The Madison won’t be under the same pressure of living up to Yellowstone’s legacy as a standalone project.

Both Sheridan and Paramount have placed a great deal of faith in The Madison, having already filmed the second season ahead of its series premiere. The same can be said for Marshals, however, based on its abysmal reception thus far, who knows if the sequel series will survive past season 2. The Madison proves that Sheridan doesn’t have to keep going back to the same Yellowstone well to make a great series, and the series will ultimately be better off distancing itself from the franchise altogether.