As Taylor Sheridan rides off into the sunset following his expired contract with Paramount, two Yellowstone alums are teaming up for a new cinematic western thriller for the studio. Yellowstone‘s Hassie Harrison and 1923’s Brandon Sklenar have been tapped to star in The Rescue, a contemporary western about a rodeo cowboy and his pet dog searching for his missing daughter.
Considering The Rescue‘s well-worn genre and familiar pedigree, it seems as though Paramount is attempting to mount more compelling Western stories without Sheridan leading the charge. As the busy scribe takes his talents to NBCUniversal, it will be interesting to see how The Rescue plays among Yellowstone fans and whether Paramount will double down and make more westerns in Sheridan’s absence.
‘The Rescue’ Reunites Two ‘Yellowstone’ Franchise Stars
Billed as a modern-day Western thriller, Paramount’s The Rescue has a chance to ride on the successful back of Yellowstone and its various TV spin-offs. Written by genre veteran John Fusco (Young Guns, Young Guns II) and directed by Potsy Ponciroli (Old Henry), the premise blends classic Western tropes from Sheridan’s TV shows Yellowstone and The Last Cowboy with vengeful crime tenets seen in Taken.
While details are fairly scant, Deadline reports The Rescue‘s logline as: “A modern-day Western, in which a rodeo cowboy’s skills are put to the test outside the arena.” On IMDb, the basic plot is revealed to be about: “A rodeo cowboy and his dog search for his missing daughter.” With a particular set of skills that the father will undoubtedly use to disarm his daughter’s captors, the premise reeks of a Taken-style revenge thriller with Neo-western conventions.
Although their roles have not been specified, The Rescue will star Yellowstone franchise stars Brandon Sklenar and Hassie Harrison. Harrison played Laramie in 18 episodes of Yellowstone, a barrel-racing ranch hand at the Dutton Family Ranch, the best friend of Mia (Eden Brolin), and the girlfriend of Walker (Ryan Bingham).
Sklenar starred in 15 episodes of the Yellowstone spin-off, 1923, playing Spencer Dutton, the son of James (Tim McGraw) and Margaret Dutton (Faith Hill). Traumatized by the brutality he witnessed in battle during WWII, Dutton travels to Africa following the war and becomes a big game hunter before making a long pilgrimage home and acclimating to civilian life.
Can Paramount Thrive in the Western Genre Without Taylor Sheridan?
By casting two of Yellowstone‘s stars in Taylor Sheridan’s absence, Paramount is betting on itself to keep the western genre alive and well. Whether the risk pays off, only time will tell. Yet, considering how The Rescue smacks of Yellowstone, especially the bunkhouse cowboys and rodeo riders played by Sheridan himself (among others), the studio isn’t straying too far from the winning formula. Throw in Sheridan’s lesser-known reality TV series, The Last Rodeo, also on Paramount+, and The Rescue becomes even more familiar.
Of course, Yellowstone has built a reputation for being more of a family melodrama than a crime thriller, despite the unremitting violence. In terms of the crime genre, The Rescue‘s revenge elements align more with Sicario and Wind River, two outstanding crime movies with western iconography written by Sheridan.
Sicario‘s vengeful plot dealt with hitman Alejandro (Benicio del Toro) serving payback to the drug cartel that murdered his family. In Wind River, revenge is served by Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) after he identifies and subdues the killers of a young Native woman.
With The Rescue touching on so many of the themes that made Sheridan a bright, shiny star for Paramount, the question remains: can the network thrive in the western genre without its most prolific scribe leading the way? Will the casting of Harrison and Sklenar lead to the popularity of Yellowstone and 1923?
The answer may lie in the resumes of The Rescue‘s writer and director. Writer John Fusco knows the Western genre just as well as Sheridan, if not more. His scripts for Young Guns and Young Guns II are steeped in historical accuracy, and he has also written Thunderheart, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Hidalgo, and, most recently, The Wild & The Reckoning. With Fusco writing The Rescue, Paramount is in sure hands.
As for director Potsy Ponciroli, his critically acclaimed 2021 western Old Henry should assuage any consternation. Tim Blake Nelson delivers a powerful performance as Henry, a wily farmer embroiled in a thick crime plot when a man arrives on his land with a horde of cash. It would be one thing if Paramount replaced Sheridan with lesser, inexperienced talent. But with Fusco and Ponciroli steering The Rescue behind the camera and Harrison and Sklenar lighting up the screen, Yellowstone and Sheridan fans should be in for a real treat.
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