5 shows to watch if you love Yellowstone

As fans wait for updates on Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2, here are five shows to watch if you love Taylor Sheridan’s flagship neo-western series.

Yellowstone has been a runaway horse of a success, with Season 5 Part 2 of the Montana ranch-based show set to air in November following the mid-season finale in early 2023. Alas, it’ll be the final season, with another series set to take over as the flagship show.

It’s also spawned a number of spin-offs that fans will definitely want to check out. That includes the prequel series 1883, which is set during the Old West, and 1923, set during the Western Expansion, in the time of Prohibition and the Great Depression. Other spin-offs are in development, too – including one titled Bass Reeves and another called 6666. We’ll leave these obvious choices out of our round-up because they’re natural go-tos.

Now, if you’re in need of wrangling some similar series to satisfy your hunger for the Western aesthetic, themes, and family drama, allow us to lasso you a herd of shows to suit – here are five TV shows to watch if you love Yellowstone.

Dallas

Never seen Dallas? Now is the time to watch the original drama about feuding families, ranches, generational conflict, and present-day rivalries.

Both Dallas and Yellowstone have soap opera scale and complex character entanglements. Both are about family dynamics and business, although Dallas centers on oil barons rather than modern-day cowboys. You’ll find stetsons in both, though. Both shows also explore old-fashioned values. Those that say men should be men, women should be women, and everybody should know their place.

Bursting at the seams with machismo, machinations political, criminal, and personal, Dallas was characterized by cliffhangers. Yellowstone notably followed suit in its Season 3 finale.

Deadwood

If you love Yellowstone and you’re after a Western series cut through with something akin to kitchen-sink realism mixed with dialed-up drama, stop – Deadwood could be one of the shows you’re looking for.

Deadwood ran for three seasons and is set in 1870s South Dakota. The series follows the growth of the town of Deadwood, with a focus on the real-life characters of Al Swearengen, played by a potty-mouthed Ian McShane, and Seth Bullock, played by Timothy Olyphant. It is considered one of the greatest TV shows ever made.

Succession

Succession is set on the East Coast, rather than the ‘Wild West’ Montana location of Yellowstone. But both shows are essentially about a patriarchal father and his emotionally floundering offspring attempting to defend their empire from external pressures. Central to both is the kids’ fight for approval and the theme of wealth and power and how they corrupt.

Succession follows the Roy family, who are fighting for control of the family business – a media and entertainment conglomerate – in the wake of family patriarch Logan Roy’s decline in health.

Virgin River

On the face of it, if you’ve never watched Virgin River you might think it has little in common with Yellowstone. The premise sets up a potentially fluffy romantic drama, with nurse practitioner Mel Monroe upping sticks from Los Angeles to seek a new start in a remote California town.

However, as the series progresses, secrets begin to emerge among the town’s residents and newcomers. Just like Yellowstone, it’s a show about complex relationships, shady and tragic pasts, and the cauldron of isolated and/or rural living.

The Son

Starring Pierce Brosnan, The Son ran for two seasons on AMC between 2017 and 2019. Set in Texas across two timelines – the 1840s and early 1900s – parallels with Yellowstone (and its spin-offs), which flashes back to the past, are clear.

Brosnan’s character in The Son, Eli McCulloch, was taken as a young teen by Comanches and raised as an adopted son. In the present day of 1915, McCulloch is a ruthless cattle baron turned oil tycoon. The Son follows McCulloch battling to preserve his business interests as he prepares to pass his empire on to his children. Like Kevin Costner’s John Dutton in Yellowstone, he has complicated relationships with his kids.

Yellowstone returns with Season 5 Part 2 in November 2023. In the meantime, check out our other Yellowstone hubs below:

Why Kevin Costner’s leaving Yellowstone | Is Yellowstone on tonight? | Yellowstone Season 5 episodes | Has Yellowstone been canceled? | 1883 Season 2 | 6666 Yellowstone | 1923 cast | 1923 Season 2 | Yellowstone cast | Yellowstone Season 6 | Will Kevin Costner be in S5P2? | Matthew McConaughey teases role | First look at Bass Reeves spinoff | Taylor Sheridan shows & movies | Bass Reeves star reveals “hope” for 1883 Yellowstone spinoff | Is Yellowstone different on CBS? Changes explained | Yellowstone spinoffs timeline explained | Lawmen: Bass Reeves trailer