Taylor Sheridan has said he came close to playing Shane Walsh in The Walking Dead before Jon Bernthal won the part. He joked that Bernthal “saved” him from remaining an actor, as losing the role helped set him on the path towards becoming one of television’s most prolific writer-producers.

Shane, Rick Grimes’s volatile friend and rival, became Bernthal’s breakout role and led to later projects including The Wolf of Wall Street and Daredevil. Sheridan and Bernthal later worked together on Sheridan’s 2017 film Wind River; Sheridan subsequently launched Yellowstone in 2018 and expanded it into a wider television franchise.