You Won't Believe Which 2 Streaming Giants Passed on 'Yellowstone'

When Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone hit Paramount+ in 2018, no one could have predicted the juggernaut that followed. The Kevin Costner-led modern Western epic followed the Dutton family as they fought to preserve their land from dubious corporations, greedy developers and navigate strained relationships with the national park and Indian reservation along its borders. It quickly became a flagship show for the then-fledgling network, and spawned numerous spin-offs, including 1883, led by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, 1923, led by Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren and Dutton Ranch with Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser that was just renewed for season two. Given the runaway success, it's hard to believe that any streamer would have passed on the franchise, but, believe it or not, these two did.

When Sheridan was shopping the show around, he took it to HBO and Netflix, both of which declined. According to the cinema and TV site 3DVF, HBO, who at the time was coasting on hits like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones, didn't think a Western would resonate with audiences. Paramount+, a network still trying to find its place in the market, placed a bet, and it paid off.

In the years since it declined Sheridan's project, Netflix has spent plenty of time trying to replicate its success. In 2025 alone, the streaming giant released three projects: The Waterfront, Ransom Canyon and American Primeval, and followed them with this year'sLittle House on the Prairie, all to varying degrees of success. But this week, Netflix's splashiest project premiered: An adaptation of John Steinbeck's East of Eden, led by the granddaughter of the legendary director Elia Kazan, who made a 1955 adaptation starring James Dean.

The book and series falls roughly in the same time period as 1883 and 1923, following the Trask and Hamilton families in the Salinas Valley of California. The new project stars Florence Pugh as Cathy Ames and Mike Faist and Christopher Abbott as the Trask brothers.