Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone owes a lot to this overlooked HBO show

Yellowstone is now celebrated as the definitive Western on television. Apart from being a powerhouse of performances, Yellowstone has also spawned several spin-offs and prequel shows, including 1883 and 1923. Taylor Sheridan rose to global prominence with Yellowstone and popularized the genre, helping it reach new heights with today’s diverse and passionate audiences.

However, much before Yellowstone was the hottest show on Paramount+, Deadwood brought forth the gritty world of the Western and the pitfalls of frontier life to television on HBO. Although Deadwood ran for a comparatively short tenure, between 2004 and 2006, and was subsequently cancelled, it did pave the important path upon which the Paramount+ show walks today.

In this respect, it can be definitively said that Deadwood served as a precursor to the resurgence of the Western as a genre in contemporary television. Back during the time of its original airing, Deadwood struggled to find its footing among the more prominent legacy shows on HBO such as The Sopranos and The Wire. However, interest in the Western show has grown by leaps and bounds in the present day. Here’s everything that you need to know.

Deadwood popularized the Western genre on television way before Yellowstone

The Western as a genre was primarily associated with the movies back in the day. Early on during the 1940s and 1950s, the Western was at the top of its game in Hollywood, with several praiseworthy Western films being released almost every year. The films of John Ford and Sam Peckinpah established the Western as a prestige genre within which complex human emotions and struggles could be portrayed. The genre ran into a period of reduced interest in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Although films like Kevin Costner’s Dances with Wolves and Clint Eastwood’s The Unforgiven were able to restore faith in the genre briefly during the early ‘90s, the Western as a whole wasn’t able to go back to its previous popularity in cinema.

When Deadwood first arrived on HBO back in 2004, it was largely wading through uncharted waters as opposed to Yellowstone. HBO back then was dominated by several heavyweight legacy shows like The Sopranos and The Wire. Deadwood presented a gritty narrative set in 1870s South Dakota and featured a cast comprising Ian McShane, Timothy Olyphant, Jim Beaver, Molly Parker, and others. One of the aspects that made Deadwood quite successful during its runtime was the fact that its narrative was widely accessible and was able to captivate newcomer audience imagination. This was repeated in later years to perfection by Yellowstone.

Looking back, Deadwood didn’t just revive the Western on television—it redefined what the genre could achieve in long-form storytelling. This gritty and layered narrative style was eventually picked up by shows like Wynonna Earp, Godless, Justified, and more recently, Yellowstone. It taught the showrunners and network producers that the Western could create a viable and engaging drama on television that would be widely received by the audience.

Despite the aforementioned similarities in the tonality and genre of Deadwood and Yellowstone, the two shows are not entirely without their differences. While Yellowstone often makes use of heightened and dramatic conflicts that have come to be associated with the writing style deployed by creator Taylor Sheridan, Deadwood went in for a more subdued form of storytelling which was nevertheless gritty and engaging. In conclusion, it can be definitely asserted that Deadwoodpaved the road for Yellowstone to follow.

Ian McShane speaks about Deadwood and his character on the show

Speaking in a previous interview with Damien Love, Ian McShane shared his valuable insights about the HBO show and his character Al Swearengen. The interview, which remained unpublished all these years, was made available by Damien Love in the wake of the 2019 Deadwood film. During the course of the interview, McShane was asked about how he came to play the character, to which he replied:

"Well, I got a call about this script, the pilot. My agent said they wanted me to audition on videotape. And I thought: ‘Fuck that, I’m too old for that one.’ But then they said David Milch writing, and Walter Hill Directing. So I said, ‘Send it over right away.’ And it was fucking amazing."

McShane then went on to describe his character as he perceived it:

"What can I say about Al? He’s one of the saloon-keepers in town. But he’s the smartest guy in town. He’s got his eye on the bottom line all the time. This was a real guy: at the height of his business, and this is 1877, he’s taking in $5,000 a day. He ran all the dope, all the prostitution. Had his girls brought in from back east, from the same orphanage he came from, too, where his mother dropped him off – he’s got a lot of problems."

He further added:

"But he’s also the guy trying organise the town, and trying to say to everybody: ‘If we’re not careful, the government will come in and throw us all out, so play it cool.” He’s trying to form some kind of organisation, without sticking it in the government’s face. But he’s charismatic, brutal, bullying, scheming – basically, the kind of part you want to play. He’s half-devil, half-good-guy. The character, and his situation, it’s changing all the time, as it did then. That’s the great thing about Milch as a writer: every human being on the show has his or her foibles and weaknesses. You don’t get the straight-up Gary Cooper as a hero. You get the fucked-up, complex Gary Cooper, and the complex villain. These are not one-note people."

Deadwood still lives on and is a testament to the brilliant writing and the powerful performances of its entire cast and creative team. All the episodes of the show are available for streaming on Max. Its influence continues to inspire new generations of Western storytellers.

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Deadwood reignited interest in TV Westerns, showing the genre could be bold, thoughtful, and emotionally rich for today’s viewers.

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