“Yellowstone” co-creator and executive producer Taylor Sheridan is a creative force behind the unscripted series set to premiere in July.
Looks like Taylor Sheridan and the Paramount Network plan to remain in business together for a while. Hours before Wednesday’s top-rated Season 2 premiere of Yellowstone, the smash-hit dramatic series co-created and executive produced by Sheridan, Paramount announced it would be renewing the show for a third season. On Thursday, the network formally announced it had green-lit another Sheridan project: The Last Cowboy, an unscripted series — set to premiere in July — focused on the highly skilled horsemen and trainers competing in the intense, high-stakes world of professional reining.
According the Paramount press release: “The Last Cowboy chronicles the lives of eight men and women who compete on the regular reining circuit, a western-based competition where riders guide horses through a precise pattern of circles, spins and stops. These horsemen are determined to elevate and preserve the cowboy tradition as they train and engage in the exclusive ultra-competitive sport.
“In conjunction with the series, Sheridan is also launching a reining event called ‘Run for a Million,’ the sport’s first-ever, arena-based competition with a $1-million purse, marking the largest in its history. The upcoming experience will take place on August 15-17, 2019 at the South Point Arena and Equestrian Center in Las Vegas, and the competition will come to life in the series finale.”
Sheridan — whose screenwriting credits include Sicario, Wind River (which he also directed) and Hell or High Water — feels the new TV series is squarely in his creative wheelhouse.
“The grit, beauty and tenacity of the West are linked to America’s legacy,” Sheridan said in a prepared statement, “and my creative drive has been to explore those, in all their complexities, in film and scripted television. Now, with The Last Cowboy and ‘Run for a Million,’ we’re bringing the real men and women, and their dedication to the sport of reining, to the small screen, an unmasking of the cowboy world that we hope TV audiences will enjoy.”
Keith Cox, President of Development for Paramount Network and TV Land, added: “Viewers came in massive numbers to watch Yellowstone last season to see the way we showcase modern-day western life. Now we’re serving up fans an inside look at the lives of real horsemen and their challenges and triumphs within the world of competitive horse reining.”
The Last Cowboy is produced for Paramount Network by Truly Original (Deal or No Deal, Ink Master, The Real Housewives of Atlanta), with Glenda Hersh and Steven Weinstock, that company’s CEOs, serving as executive producers along with Sheridan, 101 Studios and David C. Glasser. “What many people don’t know,” Hersh and Weinstock said, “is that some of the greatest cowboys in the world aren’t living and working on ranches; they’re competing in one of the world’s most elite sports. Riders, trainers and horses perform at spectacular levels, and the drama and stakes of reining are as intense as any professional sport – with major money also on the line.”