Taylor Sheridan’s ever-expanding stable of television dramas continues to grow strong. But unlike the Yellowstone extended universe, “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” is something different. Finally, after years of living with the reprehensible actions of the Dutton clan, we now have a Western outside the purview of Sheridan’s expansive world. Inspired by the real-life first Black U.S. Marshal, “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” has been a long time coming and is a hit with viewers.
Already, the Paramount+ series is fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a 95% audience score. This improves upon Sheridan’s flagship series, “Yellowstone,” which has an audience score of 76%. Fans may be fascinated by the underhanded ways that John Dutton (Kevin Costner) keeps control over his empire and all the zingers that Beth (Kelly Reilly) delivers, but there is something fresh about portraying a true-to-life figure. Starring “Silo” actor and exemplary talent David Oyelowo as Reeves, the miniseries is based on non-fiction books by Sidney Thompson and covers a type of story often underrepresented in the genre. We may have “Yellowstone” to thank for popularizing the West on Paramount+, but “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” elevates things to another level. By setting the series outside of “Yellowstone,” it doesn’t fall into the Sheridan trap of being overly melodramatic with repetitive storylines.
Critics still have love for Yellowstone
As much as “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” is a hit with fans, critics remain harder to impress. The new series maintains a solid 81% on Rotten Tomatoes, while “Yellowstone” scrapes by with a slightly higher critics score of 84%. With all the high-stakes histrionics present and Kevin Costner’s unsurprising off-screen drama, it’s worth noting that “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” may not have been possible without “Yellowstone.” Taylor Sheridan fought hard for the series. He refused a writers’ room, insisting that his vision could only be carried out by him. And though he could be accused of going on a power trip, it ultimately paid off. David Oyelowo first became involved in the project when producer David Permut proposed the idea in 2014. At the time, Westerns were not popular and Oyelowo struggled in vain to get support for the project. The success of “Yellowstone” changed that.
“Taylor came along and indisputably reimagined and reinvigorated the Western,” Oyelowo told Vanity Fair. “I talked to him, and he is a real historian around this stuff. At that point, I’d been reading up on Bass Reeves for quite a while — and [Sheridan] was the only person I’d spoken to who knew at least as much, if not more, as I did. His passion for it just started making it feel like this might be a great collaboration. And then soon afterward, Paramount+ expressed interest and we were off to the races.” After a decade in development hell, it is safe to say that “Yellowstone” walked so “Lawmen: Bass Reeves” could run.