Yellowstone is one of the biggest television franchises of all time, helmed by writer-producer Taylor Sheridan. The original series recently came to an explosive conclusion with its fifth and final season, ending one chapter of the Dutton family saga. Now, spinoff series like 1923 and 1944 continue the Duttons’ story as Sheridan continues to grow his popular neo-Western franchise. However, fans of Yellowstone may not be fully aware of Sheridan’s expansive career beyond his most popular series.
Taylor Sheridan is known for writing complicated characters who walk the fine line between right and wrong. He may have first picked up on this thrilling dichotomy in his career pre-Yellowstone. Many fans of Sons of Anarchy will recognize him for his recurring role in the series, which ended brutally and memorably. Moving on to other projects thereafter, Sheridan seems to have never forgotten his role in Sons of Anarchy. The actor-turned-director might have taken a cheeky shot at Sons of Anarchy in Yellowstone‘s third season.
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Taylor Sheridan’s Sons of Anarchy Connection, Explained
Sheridan Played Deputy Hale in Sons of Anarchy
Before he became the head of a major television universe, Taylor Sheridan was better known for his acting appearances. Sheridan made small appearances in shows like Star Trek, V.I.P., and Veronica Mars in his early career, but perhaps his most significant acting role was as Deputy David Hale in Sons of Anarchy. Nicknamed “Captain America” for his straight-laced moral compass and strong adherence to the law, Deputy Hale serves as an antagonist in the first two seasons of the series, working to foil the SAMCRO gang. At the beginning of the series, Hale devotes himself to reducing crime in Charming, California, which puts him at odds with the Sons of Anarchy. However, Hale becomes increasingly aware that the criminal underworld has become too powerful to simply root out, leaving him to build a working relationship with the town’s principal biker gang in hopes of at least maintaining order in Charming. All along, however, he plans to bring SAMCRO down, freeing Charming from their influence once and for all.
In Season 2, Deputy Hale kicks his fight for justice up a notch by making a deal with the devil. To take down the Sons of Anarchy, Hale allies himself with a white supremacist group led by Ethan Zobelle. With their help, Hale hopes to destabilize SAMCRO and kick them out of Charming for good. However, as he becomes privy to Zobelle’s true intentions, Hale begins to wonder if he’s embracing something far worse than the Sons of Anarchy. At the end of the season, he betrays Zobelle and allows the Sons of Anarchy to defeat his white supremacist gang. By Season 3, Hale has been promoted to Chief of Police, but his new position doesn’t last for long. In Sons of Anarchy‘s Season 3 premiere, Hale is caught in a shootout between the Sons of Anarchy and a mysterious shooter in a van. Hale is run over by the van and dragged down the street, leaving his blood and brains strewn on the pavement. Taylor Sheridan’s Sons of Anarchy exit is remembered as one of the most brutal deaths in the entire series–and the actor-turned-writer never forgot about it.
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Did Taylor Sheridan Take a Shot at Sons of Anarchy in Yellowstone?
A Season 3 Episode Features a Cheeky Sons of Anarchy Reference
Taylor Sheridan may have taken a shot at Sons of Anarchy in Yellowstone‘s third season. In Season 3, Episode 4, entitled “Going Back to Cali,” a motorcycle gang is caught routinely trespassing on the Yellowstone-Dutton ranch. When some of the ranchhands confront the bikers, they laugh it off, resulting in a brutal fistfight. Just as things turn violent, Rip Wheeler arrives in his truck, crashing into the gang’s parked motorcycles, destroying them all in one fell swoop. Rip and his companion, Lloyd, make short work of the bikers, beating one of them with a tire iron. Rip then gives the gang leader one last chance to leave, allowing him and his friends to scurry away, battered and defeated.
This brief sequence appears to reference Taylor Sheridan’s time on Sons of Anarchy, featuring a good-natured dig at his previous series. After his character met such a brutal end at the hands of a biker gang, Sheridan includes a scene wherein a similar biker gang has their beloved motorcycles utterly destroyed. To add insult to injury, the main cast of Sheridan’s new series gives the biker gang a brutal beating, as if to gloat over Yellowstone‘s success. Of course, success itself is the best revenge–and Sheridan proves quite capable in this area as well. His series became one of the most popular television shows, eclipsing Sons of Anarchy‘s popularity. While Sheridan may have taken a shot at Sons of Anarchy, there is no reason to believe that there is any actual bad blood between him and his old series. More likely, this was a good-natured jab at a series that saw fit to kill his character off in an excessively violent way over a decade earlier.
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Taylor Sheridan’s Career Didn’t Need Sons of Anarchy
Sheridan’s Career Skyrocketed After His Sons of Anarchy Exit
Although being written out of Sons of Anarchy was undoubtedly disappointing for Taylor Sheridan, he ultimately didn’t need the series for his career to be a success. After leaving the crime drama in Season 3, Sheridan pivoted to focus on writing rather than acting. He penned the iconic 2015 crime thriller Sicario and its sequel, Sicario: Day of the Soldado. However, his most prominent works have remained in the realm of television. Recent years have seen a massive surge in the popularity of Sheridan’s television series. The successes of shows like Mayor of Kingstown, Special Ops: Lioness, and, most recently, Landman have shown that Sheridan is currently the most in-demand television writer.
Of course, Sheridan’s most popular franchise is Yellowstone. Aside from the flagship series, which recently ended with a fifth and final season, Sheridan has also been behind multiple Yellowstone spinoffs, including 1883 and 1923, which chart the Duttons’ journey in previous generations. More spinoffs are currently in development to help expand the franchise, including the Michelle Pfeiffer-led The Madison and an untitled spinoff following Rip Wheeler and Beth Dutton after the events of Yellowstone.
Despite being killed off early in Sons of Anarchy‘s run, Taylor Sheridan has enjoyed a prosperous career thereafter. While still known to act from time to time, Sheridan has enjoyed more success as a writer, creating one of the most popular television franchises of the modern era. However, even success doesn’t keep him from taking shots at his alma mata every once in a while.
