The next chapter in Taylor Sheridan’s prequel universe is still in development.
The Dutton family saga has not run out of road. Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone universe continues to expand on Paramount and Paramount+, and the next chapter in its prequel timeline is still moving forward despite a long stretch of public silence. According to television journalist Matt Webb Mitovich, who addressed the subject in his newsletter, he has been assured that 1944 remains in active development at Paramount and has been greenlit for one season with a late 2026 debut in view.
The update is the clearest confirmation fans have received since the project was first announced in February 2023.
What 1944 is and where it fits
The show is designed to pick up roughly two decades after the events of 1923, the two-season prequel series that starred Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren as Jacob and Cara Dutton. 1944 would complete a chronological bridge between that era and the original Yellowstone, which followed the modern-day Dutton family across six seasons ending in 2024.
Central to fan speculation around the new prequel is the fate of Spencer Dutton, the younger son of James and Margaret Dutton who was played by Brandon Sklenar in 1923. Spencer survived that series, and his trajectory in the years that followed remains an open question the new show is expected to address. The death of his partner Alex, played by Julia Schlaepfer, left his story with significant emotional weight still to resolve.
What is keeping fans busy in the meantime
While 1944 develops behind the scenes, Dutton Ranch is currently the active entry point into the franchise on Paramount+. The sequel series picks up with Rip Wheeler and Beth Dutton, played by Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly, as they leave Montana and attempt to build a new life in South Texas. The show stars Annette Bening as the matriarch of the Jackson family, with Ed Harris, Jai Courtney, and Finn Little rounding out the cast.
Dutton Ranch has drawn strong viewer response and is scheduled to run through its season finale in July.
The show that made it all possible first
Before Yellowstone became a franchise, Sons of Anarchy was doing something similar on FX, and doing it with less credit than it deserved. The biker drama, which ran from 2008 to 2014, built its story around a family holding together a criminal enterprise and hiding the true nature of that enterprise behind a legitimate business front. The Teller-Morrows ran a motorcycle repair shop. The Duttons run a ranch. The surface details differ but the structural similarities are striking.
Taylor Sheridan had a recurring acting role on Sons of Anarchy before he became the creative force behind Yellowstone, and the influence of that show on his later work is visible throughout the franchise. Both series center on patriarchal figures willing to commit serious acts to protect their family’s position. Both feature women whose rage and willingness to act are treated as defining rather than disqualifying character traits. Beth Dutton’s parallels to Gemma Teller Morrow, played by Katey Sagal in Sons of Anarchy, have been noted by critics and viewers since Yellowstone first aired.
Sons of Anarchy was built on a loose adaptation of Hamlet, with Jax Teller moving from loyal family member to disillusioned heir to tragic protagonist across seven seasons. That arc was plotted from the beginning, which gave the show a completeness that crime dramas rarely achieve. The Yellowstone franchise has taken a different approach, expanding outward in multiple directions rather than driving toward a single conclusion. Whether 1944 adds to that expansion in a meaningful way depends on what Sheridan does with the gap in the Dutton timeline that the prequel is designed to fill.
What comes next
Paramount has not announced a specific premiere date for 1944 beyond the late 2026 window. Casting has not been confirmed publicly, and details about which characters from 1923 will return remain speculative. What is confirmed is that the project has not been shelved and that Sheridan’s relationship with Paramount remains productive enough to keep the pipeline moving.
For a franchise that began with a single show about a Montana ranch, the continued expansion into new eras and new geographies reflects both the commercial durability of the Dutton story and Sheridan’s apparent interest in following it wherever it goes.