Michelle Pfeiffer is the latest Hollywood A-Lister to venture into cowboy country after joining Taylor Sheridan’s television empire.
The 67-year-old actress is starring as Stacy Clyburn in Sheridan’s latest Paramount+ show, which became a massive hit after it premiered its first three episodes on March 14.
Stacy is the matriarch of a wealthy New York City family who makes a life-changing decision after suffering a devastating tragedy in the first episode. Following their loss, Stacy and her family leave Manhattan behind for the rural Madison River Valley region of Montana in an effort to recover.
Pfeiffer’s role marks the three-time Oscar nominee’s first foray into Western territory. During an interview with the Hollywood Reporter last month, Pfeiffer explained that taking on the project was a “big leap of faith” for her since Sheridan did not have a script for the series as he wanted to cast first and write later.
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The actress recalled that she visited Sheridan at his Bosque Ranch in Texas where they had a conversation about his general vision for the show and her character. She told the outlet that she was hesitant due to the lack of details about her role and decided to seek the advice of Helen Mirren, who previously starred in Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” spin-off “1923.”
“He wanted to know who Stacy was before he started writing. I wanted to know who Stacy is before I committed. And so we went back and forth like that for a little while, and it became clear to me I wasn’t going to win this battle,” Pfeiffer said with a laugh. “So I asked Helen Mirren to speak to me about her experience [with 1923].”
Pfeiffer said she consulted Mirren because she had to “know something concrete about this guy, this project.”
“And she just glowed; she couldn’t say enough nice things,” Pfeiffer recalled of Mirren. “She said the scripts were great, the productions were perfect. She was having the time of her life; she loved Montana. So I took a big leap of faith, and I committed. I thought, ‘Well, the guy has a pretty darn good track record.'”
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“The Madison” went on to become Sheridan’s biggest-ever series launch after the premiere episode reached 8 million global streaming views in the first 10 days after its debut. The final three episodes of the first season were released on March 21 and the show was renewed for a second season days later.
Since premiering the mega-hit Western series “Yellowstone,” which was led by two-time Oscar winner Kevin Costner, Sheridan has continued to draw top-tier talent away from traditional Hollywood and into stories rooted in the American heartland. Like Pfeiffer, other major stars joined Sheridan’s projects without scripts, based purely on his reputation.
While many of Sheridan’s projects feature actors with deep roots in the Western genre, Pfeiffer isn’t the first elite actor to step into frontier storytelling for the first time under his direction. Here’s a look at other stars who have taken the same leap.
Helen Mirren took on her first major Western role when she played Cara Dutton, the matriarch of the Dutton family and wife of Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) in “1923.”
During a 2022 interview with Vanity Fair, the now 80-year-old Academy Award winner revealed that she had not seen a script for the series before accepting the role of Cara.
“He [Sheridan] didn’t describe the character particularly, he didn’t describe the journey of the character. It was a jump into the unknown, absolutely,” Mirren told the outlet. “I think both of us [Ford] had great faith in Taylor’s work that we’d seen and enjoyed so much. He’s an absolutely extraordinary writer and an extraordinary person on the sort of scene of storytelling.”
Mirren continued, “So it wasn’t really anything to do with, ‘She’s gonna be this person and then that’s gonna happen.’ I thought it was very important that he got to know who I was. So we just had a meeting like that, and it was wonderful. It was very revelatory for me.”
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Mirren then revealed the one thing that Sheridan did pitch to her in their meeting. “‘This is going to be a long movie. Basically, we’re gonna tell one story. I don’t know how many episodes we’ll take to tell that story, but it’s going, basically going to be one story,'” Sheridan said, according to Mirren. “And I loved the idea of that as well.”
“Taylor being the extraordinary powerhouse that he is of writing, it’s almost as if he writes in his sleep or something. But I have to say, when the scripts arrive, they are perfect,” she said. “You don’t want to change a word. You don’t. No scene is too long. No scene is too short. They’re beautifully constructed.”
Sheridan is known for putting actors through “Cowboy Camp,” an intensive training program where cast members learn horseback riding, ranch work and other skills to bring authenticity to his frontier stories. While speaking with Deadline in 2023, Mirren confirmed that she had taken part in the training.
“I did go to Cowboy Camp,” she told the outlet. “I said at the beginning that I don’t ride. I mean, I’ve been on the back of a horse many times, but I’m not a rider. I’ve never really learned properly how to ride. So Taylor had the great idea of putting me in a buggy, so I did have to learn how to drive a buggy, which was really great experience. That was my Cowboy Camp.”
While Ford had previously dabbled in the Western genre earlier in his career, “1923” marked his first serious turn in the space.
During a 2025 interview with the Wall Street Journal, Harrison confirmed that he had signed on to “1923” without seeing a script, saying that he had previously done the same with his projects “Shrinking” and “Captain America: Brave New World.”
“Again, no script,” he said. “Why not? I saw enough Marvels to see actors that I admired having a good time.”
While speaking with Comic Book Resources in 2022, Ford explained that he had based his decision to join “1923” on Sheridan’s “powerful, imaginative storytelling” and also joked that Mirren was “the bait” that had drawn him in.
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“1923” followed the Dutton family as they struggled to defend their Montana ranch during the early 20th century. Though the role of Jacob required frequent horseback riding for Ford, the now 83-year-old actor told People magazine that he didn’t find it “that difficult.”
“Maybe from a contemporary point of view, the horses represent something — some special skill or danger — but they really are not,” he said “I spent half an hour on a horse, and from a contemporary point of view, you look at that, and say, ‘Whoa, people used to do that,’ but it really is not that difficult.”
Mirren, who joined Ford for the interview, chimed in, “Harrison says that because he’s a great rider. I was incredibly impressed, I have to say, with watching him gallop off across the Montana hillside.”
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During a 2025 interview with Fox News Digital, Ford’s “1923” co-star Brian Geraghty raved over the “Indiana Jones” star’s skill at riding horses.
“You know, they’d be like, ‘Harrison, slow down next time.’ ‘Yeah, yeah, I got it.’ And then he just flies off and you’re like trying to do the scene with him. We had a great time. He’s just a hoot, man. He’s so much fun. So I was so happy, so pleasantly surprised to see how much fun and how hard he worked,” Geraghty, who starred as Zane Davis, said.
Oscar-nominated actress Demi Moore made her return to the small screen in Sheridan’s series “Landman,” a contemporary Western-style drama led by Billy Bob Thornton and set in the oil fields of West Texas that examines power, wealth and survival in today’s energy frontier.
In the first season of the hit show, Moore, 63, who played Cami Miller, the wife of the powerful oil executive Monty Miller (Jon Hamm), surprised viewers with her limited screen time. However, in season two, Moore’s character evolved from a mostly background figure into a central power player, stepping in to lead her late husband’s oil empire after Monty dies suddenly at the end of the first season.
During a 2025 appearance on Global Entertainment’s “The Morning Show,” Moore explained that she initially accepted the role of Cami because she wanted to work with Sheridan.
“I met with him before, obviously season one, and he essentially just told me the idea, told me it was going to be Billy Bob, and I just said ‘Yes,’” Moore recalled. “Like, whatever it was going to be, wherever it was going to go.”
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“And you know, he asked essentially for you to trust him, and I do,” she said. “I’m ready to go wherever it’s going to go, whatever is going to be the most interesting, intriguing for the show, for the character.”
“He writes women so well,” she added. “And with such different voices, not just for the women, but for all the characters.”
“It’s just a real delight. Really being part of this show is a real delight.”
The third season of “Landman” is expected to premiere on Paramount+ in November 2026.
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Ali Larter previously shared that she fought hard for the role of Angela Norris on “Landman” after feeling an instant connection with the character.
During an interview with “CBS Mornings,” the 49-year-old revealed that she had auditioned for the role three times and competed against 10 other actresses.
Larter admitted that the process was so grueling, she almost gave up.
“Even you just bringing that up gives me sheer terror again,” she said. “The audition process is incredibly difficult, especially when you feel like you’re right for a role. I connected with this the first time I got the pages of it, and it stretched out over three months.”
“And then when you go in a room, there’s 20 people there, and you deliver,” Larter added. “I had to do 19 pages, a long monologue that I got the night before. And you know, I think that process almost burned me out. I was so raw at that point, I almost didn’t care. I was ready to go. I was like, ‘If you don’t want this, then I don’t want you.'”
However, Larter ultimately landed the role of the glamorous, confident ex-wife of Tommy Norris (Billy Bob Thornton).
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While speaking with “Good Morning America,” Larter said working on the show was an “absolute dream job.”
“I get to work with an incredible cast, and the entire crew is so gifted and talented that I just feel like I’m playing at the top of the game, and so that’s really exciting,” she said.
Larter also said she had been a longtime fan of Sheridan after enjoying his movies “Wind River” and “Sicario.” During her interview with “GMA,” she heaped praise on Sheridan, whom she described as an “Incredible storyteller.”
“He loves to write these dynamic women, and that’s very, very fun to play,” she said.
Patrick J. Adams previously admitted that he was an unlikely choice to play a hero in the rugged world of Sheridan’s Western empire.
The 44-year-old Canadian actor rose to fame playing the brilliant but unlicensed lawyer Mike Ross in the hit legal drama “Suits” for seven seasons from 2011 to 2018.
During an interview with USA Today, Adams recalled that he had previously tried to break into the Sheridanverse, auditioning for several roles in Sheridan’s other projects, including a lawyer part in “1923.”
“If you looked at my body of work, you wouldn’t think, ‘Now that’s a Taylor Sheridan guy,'” Adams told the outlet. “To [Sheridan’s] credit, he’s written a character very different from anything he’s ever written.”
In “The Madison,” he plays Russell McIntosh, a New York City investment banker married to Stacy Clyburn’s daughter, Paige McIntosh (Elle Chapman), who relocates to Montana with the grieving Clyburn family. As a city-slicker, Adams’ character struggles to adjust to country life in their Montana home, which features a hornet-infested outhouse rather than an indoor bathroom.
Adams told USA Today that unlike his character, he is “totally comfortable” in “the wilderness.” He said that one of his favorite places is his sister’s remote cabin on the rugged coast of British Columbia, where she lives “off the grid.”
He noted that he wouldn’t mind using the outhouse that Russell and Paige abhor.
“It’s obviously fake. But if it were real, that would be a pretty comfortable outhouse,” he said. “I’ve been in far worse.”
In one scene in “The Madison’s” premiere, Paige storms off after realizing that the family were eating elk meat for dinner after Stacy told Russell to pretend it was beef.
Adams told USA Today that he personally enjoys eating elk meat.
“I love elk,” he said. “Who doesn’t love elk?”
While Russell has yet to ride a horse, Adams said that he is hoping that opportunity will arise in the second season of “The Madison.”
“I’m not bad on a horse, definitely not as scared as Russell,” says Adams. “But we’re a long way from Russell getting on a horse in ‘The Madison.’ I’m excited for that episode, should that moment come.”
Adams shared that he was thrilled to be working with Sheridan and the top-tier cast, noting that it was different from his experience on “Suits.”
“I’m just super-grateful,” he said. “A person in their life, you’re lucky enough to get like a ‘Suits’ moment, and that’s it, and it goes away. And that’s what they put on your gravestone. I’m just feeling very, very amazed and grateful that I get to have this whole other experience on [‘The Madison’]. It’s obviously got Michelle and Kurt and Taylor, and you’ve got people who are on a whole other level, in terms of the work they’re doing and what their output is.”
Adams continued, “‘Suits’ was a different energy. It was a lot of people, not first-timers, but it was a lot of people [for whom] this was their moment. This was the thing that was going to make them. It was [creator] Aaron [Korsh]’s first real show. All of us kind of building it together as we went. To step into a show with heavy hitters, but still feel that same ecstatic creative energy that you feel when you’re starting something new, it’s really exciting.”
“It’s cool to think these people have been doing this for years, but everyone still gets so excited to invent a new world and build these characters, and now welcome people into it,” he added. “I’m stunned that I get to do it again. Super-grateful and praying that audiences fall in love with these people the way that we fell in love with them.”
