Actor Taylor Sheridan attends day 3 of the 2023 Stagecoach Festival on Apr. 30, 2023 in Indio, California.
Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for Stagecoach
Taylor Sheridan isn’t done bringing the “Yellowstone” universe to Texas. But turning one of the state’s most famous working ranches into a fictional drama appears to be off limits.
Sheridan says he has permanently shelved “6666,” the “Yellowstone” spinoff announced in 2021 around the real Four Sixes Ranch, because he doesn’t want to fictionalize the lives of the people who work there.
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Sheridan’s issue isn’t with filming in Texas, but with fictionalizing the Four Sixes itself. He has filmed extensively across the state where he grew up, from Midland and Fort Worth for “Landman” to working ranches across North Texas for “Dutton Ranch.” The latter became Paramount+’s biggest original series debut and earned a second-season renewal earlier this year.
“There’s never gonna be one; I would never fictionalize that ranch,” Sheridan said of the long-discussed spinoff on the “Rodeo Time” podcast. “People thought that that was gonna be a thing, but I would never do that.”
Sheridan’s history with the Four Sixes predates his ownership of the ranch.
During the podcast, Sheridan recalled becoming concerned that the fictional Yellowstone ranch had become more famous than real working ranches. Wanting to show viewers a more authentic side of cowboy life, he decided to bring a real ranch into the series and chose the Four Sixes.
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Sheridan said he approached ranch leadership long before the property was for sale and eventually received permission from then-owner Anne Marion to film there. His pitch centered on Jimmy Hurdstrom, played by Jefferson White, leaving the chaos of the Yellowstone and learning what it meant to work as a cowboy on a real ranch.
The storyline sent Jimmy to the Four Sixes, and Sheridan said he has since pulled all of Jimmy’s scenes at the ranch together on his computer.
“I’ve actually got on my computer all the scenes of Jimmy at the Four Sixes pulled out and strung together, and it makes its own perfect little movie,” Sheridan said. “You watch him go there as this misfit, and leave, you know, a man and a respected cowboy.”
Sheridan said the storyline also incorporated people from the real cowboy world rather than relying solely on actors. He pointed to Heath Owenby, whom he identified as a ranch general manager, as one example of the details that made the story ring true to people familiar with that world.
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But Sheridan said what worked as a contained storyline would be difficult to sustain as an entire series. Eventually, he said, he would have to start “making up lives” and “invent[ing] a drama” at a place where people actually live, work and raise their families.
His relationship with the Four Sixes changed further after Marion died in 2020. Sheridan said he later received a call telling him the ranch was to be sold and that there was a desire to find someone who would maintain Marion’s vision.
He recalled being told the price was $330 million.
“Well boys, I’m a little short,” Sheridan said. “In fact, I’m about 300 million short.”
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Sheridan said the prospect of the ranch being broken up weighed on him while “Yellowstone” was filming there. He recalled telling producer David Glasser that they were telling a story about a ranch that had survived for generations while facing the possibility it might not exist in the same form by the time the episode aired.
“We’re filming this scene about this storied ranch that’s been around for 150 years, and by the time that this episode airs the ranch will no longer exist,” Sheridan recalled. “We just can’t let that happen.”
The Four Sixes remains active far beyond its appearances on television. That real-world cowboy connection is on display this weekend, too: Dusty Buren of the Four Sixes is competing at the Run for a Million, one of the country’s largest horse shows, which airs Saturday, Aug. 22, on CBS.
Sheridan also spoke about spending as much time as he can at the ranch in Guthrie and his work with the Four Sixes’ performance horses in Granbury. He described the ranch as generational, with second- and third-generation cowboys working there and hopes that their children will eventually return to continue that tradition.
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Sheridan was in Texas this week, too, throwing out the ceremonial first pitch Tuesday before the Rangers-Nationals game at Globe Life Field in Arlington.
Taylor Sheridan throws out the ceremonial first pitch prior to a game between the Texas Rangers and the Washington Nationals at Globe Life Field on Aug. 18, 2026 in Arlington, Texas.
Stacy Revere/Getty Images
That real-life operation is also at the heart of why Sheridan says “6666” won’t happen.
“So now I’m trivializing and fictionalizing something where real people work, and they raise their families there, and I could never do that to them,” Sheridan said. “I could never do that to the boys who’ve dedicated themselves and everybody that works on that ranch.”
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“I’m very protective of the Sixes, and it’s a big responsibility, you know, to be the person who has to protect that brand,” he continued. “So, you know, I have to be very, very careful with it.”