Taylor Sheridan’s Lioness Successor Is Officially Confirmed

Published Oct 28, 2026, 11:50 AM EDT

After 18 months at Screen Rant, Guy became Classic TV Editor in September 2026, and specializes in leading features content about shows from decades gone by. Having written for and editing several TV, film and music publications, his areas of expertise include comedy, crime, historical drama, Westerns, and political thrillers.

Taylor Sheridan’s spy-themed military action thriller Lioness is riding higher than ever after its record-breaking season 3 finale, but the prolific TV creator already has a successor for the show in development. Having originally made his name writing the screenplay for Denis Villeneuve’s movie Sicario, it makes perfect sense that Sheridan is returning his focus to stories about frontline combat, including impending feature-length productions F.A.S.T. and Call of Duty.

But his next military drama for the small screen will take place in a very different setting from either these movies or any season of Lioness, at a different time in American history. What’s more, it will feature characters with whom we’re already familiar from other Taylor Sheridan TV shows. In a major first for Sheridan’s flagship franchise Yellowstone, we’re about to see one of the Duttons in active military combat.

Set roughly 75 years before the events of the original series, upcoming spinoff 1944 will tell the story of the Dutton family during the Second World War. Indeed, at least one member of the family will be called upon to fight in this war. The ending of previous Yellowstone prequel series 1923 set up John Dutton II’s story in 1944, and he’ll be reaching his 21st birthday around the time that U.S. armed forces carried out the D-Day landings in France.

Given that every other generation of Duttons born in the 20th century has included a military veteran, it’s virtually guaranteed that John II will serve in World War 2, not least because conscription was required of all American males between the ages of 18 and 45 from December 1941 onwards. He’ll be the first Dutton who’s directly portrayed fighting in a war, though, since every previous Yellowstone series has been set during peacetime in the United States.

Taylor Sheridan Is Developing His First Military Action Series Since Lioness

Off the back of Lioness season 3 setting a new viewership record on Paramount+, the development of Yellowstone’s next spinoff 1944 couldn’t have happened at a better time for Taylor Sheridan. If the 9.7 million viewers who tuned in for the conclusion of Joe McNamara’s latest mission are anything to go by, Sheridan’s military action series are in especially high demand.

It’s just as well, then, that 1944 will inevitably feature elements of military combat, since it’s going to depict the father of Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone patriarch John Dutton serving in the Second World War in some capacity. After all, he’s one of at least five members of his family with a military service record to speak of.

Costner’s character fought in the Vietnam War, while his son Kayce Dutton served as a U.S. Navy SEAL in Afghanistan. In 1923, Spencer Dutton is a veteran of the First World War, and 1883 reveals that James Dillard Dutton was previously a captain in the Confederate States Army.

Dutton Family Members With Military Experience	Force Served	War Fought In	Yellowstone Show(s)
James Dillard Dutton	Confederate States Army	U.S. Civil War	1883
Spencer Dutton	American Expeditionary Force	First World War	1923, 1944
John Dutton II	TBC	Second World War	1923, 1944
John Dutton III	Unknown	Vietnam War	Yellowstone
Kayce Dutton	U.S. Navy SEALs	War in Afghanistan	Yellowstone

Yet, military service has only been mentioned in passing as part of the Dutton family’s backstory up to this point. 1944 will be the first time we actually see a family member actively serving the United States Armed Forces.

With this latest Yellowstone prequel’s development delays now seemingly behind it, there’s a clear pathway for the show to become Taylor Sheridan’s first new military-themed TV release since Lioness. An update confirmed that 1944 was in “active development” as recently as June 2026, and we should expect it to reach our screens in 2027.

1944 Proves Yellowstone Is More Than A Western Franchise

Of course, 1944 isn’t the first action-oriented spinoff that Yellowstone has spawned. The franchise’s Kayce Dutton series Marshals is an action-packed procedural which features its own fair share of gunfighting. Nevertheless, a period war drama will take Yellowstone to a different place entirely.

Taylor Sheridan might be best-known for his Westerns, but his biggest franchise in the genre is unquestionably expanding far beyond it. 1944 looks set to be more Band of Brothers than Bonanza, which perhaps explains why the spinoff is taking so long to develop.

If Sheridan and his fellow scriptwriters get this series right, it could be the hardest-hitting story of the franchise so far. Although 1944 will still be part-Western, there’s plenty of cause for war genre fans and history buffs to get excited about, too. John Dutton II is reporting for duty.

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