Why did Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan leave Sons of Anarchy?

Years ago Taylor Sheridan as Travis Wheatley in Yellowstone He was often seen butting heads with Jax Teller (Charlie Hunnam) and his lovable but regularly law-breaking biker gang in Sons of Anarchy. Kurt Sutter’s series, which mixed “Hamlet” with pigs, cast Sheridan as Deputy Chief David Hale, a regular thorn in the side of Teller and his crew. For a while at least.

While he was staring down The Sons for 21 episodes, Hale was suddenly killed off in the third episode of the third season. (One of the best seasons of Sons of Anarchy)) While the car was passing by at a funeral. Like many deaths on the show, his was a visceral one, assuring the audience that he was really good. According to Sheridan, the exit was his choice, and it was all about the numbers, whether on call sheets or contracts.

While promoting his ‘Yellowstone’ prequel ‘1883’ in 2021, Sheridan explained his departure from ‘Sons of Anarchy’ with Delivery time And his career choice, which played a huge role in turning him into the film and television dynamo he is today. “At the time, they were offering me what I thought was completely unfair pay. It was less than almost everyone else on the show and it wasn’t enough for me to leave my second job,” he explained.

From there, Sheridan received some key advice that would change the course of his career and make Hollywood snatch up anything bearing his name in the following years.

It’s a story as old as time in Hollywood. Tell someone they’ll never achieve anything, and they’ll likely do all that and more. In Sheridan’s case, it was some choice words from a business attorney that set him on the right track. “This idiot business lawyer says, ‘Maybe he deserves to make more, but we’re not going to pay him more. Guess what? He’s not worth any more. There’s 50 of him. And he’s 11 years old on the summons. This is him remembering what this guy is,’ And that’s all it will ever be.

It wasn’t. Three years after leaving Sons of Anarchy, it was announced that Sheridan’s screenplay for “Sicario” would be directed by Denis Villeneuve, marking a milestone in the writer-director’s career. “I decided right away that I didn’t want to be an 11-year-old on the call-up list for the rest of my life. Now, I’m a happy 11-year-old on the call-up list at Yellowstone, but I don’t think anyone wants to watch me do anything on TV,” he added. “Because the business people told me they didn’t do that, they told me I was supposed to tell the story behind the camera.” Now, with eight shows he’s created under his belt (for more on that, See the /Film category for Sheridan’s performances) and six of his film scripts (two of which he directed) were critically acclaimed, it was clear that Sheridan going solo was the right thing to do.