This world—the world that we believed was our own—actually belongs to Taylor Sheridan. We are simply allowed to live in it. The creative minds behind Yellowstone and Mayor of Kingstown, as well as the upcoming 1883, have found their newest A-list name to bring into what I’m now calling the “The Sheriverse.” As reported by Deadline, Sylvester Stallone is in talks to star in a mobster series developed by Sheridan called Kansas City. Stallone would play Sal, a New York City mobster who moves to Kansas City, Missouri. AKA, Rocky goes West.
Removed from the familiarity of New York, he’ll be tasked with navigating the power dynamics of the midwestern city—a place decidedly different than the mega metropolis where his Italian-American mob family has dominated for years. Then again, when you live a life fuelled by power like Sal has, you tend to make a habit of climbing to the top of the food chain no matter what, which is the story the series will follow, according to the same report from Deadline.
This is the first of Sheridan’s Paramount+ series that will be run by someone other than Sheridan himself, but fear not: Terence Winter, who worked on Boardwalk Empire and The Sopranos, will serve as show-runner with Sheridan and Stallone on board as executive producers. This is also the first time that Stallone will star in his own series for the small screen.
Sheridan, who inked a deal with Parmount after Yellowstone blew up following its 2018 debut, has been developing two series related to Yellowstone, as well as Kingstown—a crime drama starring Jeremy Renner and Dianne Wiest. At this rate, by the end of 2022, all your favourite leading men of the 1980s and 90s will star in a series at least tangentially attached to Taylor Sheridan. Costner? Elliott? Stallone? Where is my Matt Dillon star-making vehicle?
Justin Kirkland is a Brooklyn-based writer who covers culture, food, and the South. Along with Esquire, his work has appeared in NYLON, Vulture, and USA Today.
