Taylor Sheridan's Western television empire has grown well beyond Yellowstone, but one of its most acclaimed offshoots, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, stands apart by design. Originally announced in 2021 as a limited series about the real-life historical figure Bass Reeves, the project was briefly reworked in 2022 into a spin-off of Yellowstone's prequel 1883, before Paramount and Sheridan ultimately chose to keep it as its own standalone story, a decision the article argues was the right one given the weight of Reeves's real history.

Born into slavery in 1838, Reeves escaped into Native American territory in Oklahoma during the Civil War and later became the first Black US Marshal west of the Mississippi. Over a career spanning more than 30 years, he made over 3,000 arrests, including that of his own son, before being barred from continuing as a marshal once Oklahoma achieved statehood, due to racial discrimination. The article credits Reeves as a likely inspiration for numerous fictional Western heroes and praises the series for letting his story stand on its own merits rather than being folded into the Dutton family saga.