Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan is writing and directing a new western, Empire of the Sun Moon.
Per Deadline, Sheridan and his Bosque Ranch production company have obtained the rights to S.C. Gwynne’s 2010 novel Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History.
Sheridan will write and direct the movie. He will also produce Empire of the Sun Moon alongside Jenny Wood.
What is Empire of the Sun Moon about?
While plot details surrounding Sheridan’s film remain under wraps, a synopsis for Gwynne’s novel reads, “In the tradition of Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, a stunningly vivid historical account of the forty-year battle between Comanche Indians and white settlers for control of the American West, centering on Quanah, the greatest Comanche chief of them all. S. C. Gwynne’s Empire of the Summer Moon spans two astonishing stories. The first traces the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history. The second entails one of the most remarkable narratives ever to come out of the Old West: the epic saga of the pioneer woman Cynthia Ann Parker and her mixed-blood son Quanah, who became the last and greatest chief of the Comanches.”
“I can’t think of anyone better qualified to bring Empire of the Summer Moonto the screen than Taylor Sheridan,” Gwynne said. “He has a deep and nuanced understanding of both the myth and reality of the Old West. I am thrilled that he is undertaking this project.”
Sheridan is best known for co-creating Paramount Network’s Yellowstone, while he also created several prequel series, including 1883 and 1923.
He also directed 2017’s Wind River, starring Jeremy Strong and Elizabeth Olsen, and 2021’s Those Who Wish Me Dead with Angelina Jolie, while he’s credited as a writer on movies such as 2015’s Sicario, 2016’s Hell or High Water, and 2021’s Without Remorse.
