What’s the status of Taylor Sheridan’s Texas-set ‘Yellowstone’ spin-off?
- The highly anticipated Yellowstone spin-off series 6666 is still in the works and will take place on the Four Sixes Ranch in Texas, focusing on tough cowboys from a Texan point of view.
- The Yellowstone character Jimmy was banished to the Four Sixes Ranch in Texas, setting up his potential involvement in 6666 .
- Taylor Sheridan, the creator of Yellowstone and real-life owner of the Four Sixes Ranch, is taking his time with 6666 due to the need for special care and respect for the real families working on the ranch.
There has been no shortage of new Westerns birthed by the success that is Taylor Sheridan’s hit Paramount Network drama Yellowstone. The show, now halfway through its fifth and final season, has struck a powerful cord with audiences, which has resulted in various prequels, spin-offs, and similarly-tooled rip-offs since 2018. But there’s one Sheridan-helmed side project that has been on the back burner for years. We’re talking about the long-awaited 6666, which, yes, will see the light of day. It just may take some time.
What’s the Premise of ‘6666’?
The contemporary spin-off was announced a number of years ago when Taylor Sheridan wanted to expand his, and by extension the Dutton’s, television empire, but there’s been very little news in the interim. Taking place on the historic Four Sixes Ranch in Guthrie, Texas, 6666 is set to center around the lives of some of the toughest cowboys in America, all from a Texan point of view. Sheridan himself is originally from the great state, making it a place near and dear to his heart. Additionally, the Western genre itself is maybe most connected to Texas, which shares a rich and colorful history with the myth of the American West.
While we don’t know all the particulars about what 6666 will entail, we do know that the project is to be set in modern-day and was meant to be to Yellowstone what Angel was to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. But now that Yellowstone is about to take its final bow in November 2024, it looks as if 6666 may fly solo for a while, or be paired with the upcoming sequel series 2024 — which will premiere in the wake of Yellowstone’s ending. Nevertheless, the idea of following Texan cowboys as they prance about the north-central planes of the Lone Star State (though not quite as high as the panhandle) sounds pretty exciting, especially if the plotlines involving the Dutton Ranch hands are your favorite part of Yellowstone.
‘Yellowstone’ Opened the Door for ‘6666,’ but Failed to Walk Through
In Yellowstone’s fourth season, Jimmy Hurdstrom (Jefferson White) was banished from the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch after breaking John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) trust and his own word concerning continuing on the rodeo circuit. As a result, Jimmy was taken down to Texas where he was inducted into the Four Sixes Ranch, a place where he learned to be a proper cowboy and appreciate what he had. There, he even fell in love with and got engaged to Emily (Kathryn Kelly), much to the chagrin of his barrel-racing ex-girlfriend. But this was the sort of growth that Jimmy needed after all these years, and it opened the door to further possibilities for the character.
So when Jimmy returned to the Yellowstone in the Season 4 finale “Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops,” it came as a shock to many when he asked John Dutton if he could remain at the Four Sixes for good. John agreed, having seen the bright young man Jimmy had become (and recognizing his love for Emily), and Jimmy was effectively written off the show. He didn’t appear at all in the first half of Season 5 save for the final episode “A Knife and No Coin,” which reveals that he and Emily are happily married, teasing a return to the Dutton Ranch to help out in the back half of the season.
When asked if he was leaving Yellowstone permanently for 6666, actor Jefferson White wasn’t sure what to say. “It’s really wherever things take me,” White told Looper following Yellowstone’s fourth season. “Similar to real life, you don’t get many choices. For Jimmy, he doesn’t get a lot of choices. He was plucked, picked up, and tossed to the Yellowstone ranch… And I really think it’s appropriate, then, that I, myself, don’t make a lot of choices.”
Taylor Sheridan Says ‘6666’ Is Still Coming
But with Jimmy down in Texas seemingly ready to launch his new spin-off series, why the delay? Clearly the time we spent on the Four Sixes in Season 4 and our brief return in Season 5 proves that there’s work to be done. Folks are chomping at the bits to see 6666 unfold, and after it was announced that the spin-off is going to air on the Paramount Network rather than on Paramount+ upon its release, it made fans even more curious as to what the Texas-based series will entail. So where exactly does 6666 fit into Taylor Sheridan’s busy schedule? Well, he’s working on it.
With so many projects under his belt beyond just the Yellowstone Universe (he’s also responsible for Mayor of Kingstown, Tulsa King, and Special Ops: Lioness), Taylor Sheridan is clearly a man of many talents. Aside from 6666, he’s also showrunning Yellowstone, its 1923 prequel, and presumably the upcoming 2024, not to mention his involvement with other Dutton-related projects like 1944 and Lawman: Bass Reeves.
According to the cowboy-turned-filmmaker, 6666 is on hold for right now while he figures out how to best proceed with the series. “[The Four Sixes spin-off], for a number of reasons, needs a unique level of special care because this is a real place with real families working here,” Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter in a lengthy 2023 interview. “You have to respect the lineage. I’ve told [the Paramount Network] to be patient.” Only someone as prolific and sought-out as Sheridan could tell an entire studio to be patient years after a show’s official announcement.
