Taylor Sheridan to write & direct Empire of the Summer Moon

Taylor Sheridan to write and direct Empire of the Summer Moon project revolving around famed Comanche chief Quanah.

Deadline reports that Yellowstone’s Taylor Sheridan has optioned Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History by S.C. Gwynne.

Taylor Sheridan is set to write and direct the project, as well as produce through his Bosque Ranch banner. Empire of the Summer Moon was once set up at Warner Bros. and has long been a passion project of Sheridan’s. The book spans the “four-decade struggle between the Comanche tribe and white settlers to control the American West,” with much of the focus on Quanah Parker, considered to be the tribe’s greatest chief.

“I can’t think of anyone better qualified to bring Empire of the Summer Moon to the screen than Taylor Sheridan,” S.C. 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.“

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6666, the sprawling ranch owned by Taylor Sheridan and his partners, has a connection with Quanah. When original founder Samuel “Burk” Burnett first established the ranch, legend has it that it was Quanah who told him where to build and that he went out a killed the deer whose antlers are part of the stone fireplace in the main living room.

Quanah’s mother was Cynthia Ann Parker, a white woman who was captured in a raid and later assimilated into the Comanche. She married Peta Nocona, a war chief of the Noconi band of the Comanches, and gave birth to three children, including Quanah. Twenty-four years later, Cynthia was taken by Texas Rangers against her will during the Pease River Massacre and was reunited with her extended family, but she refused to adjust to white society and later died by suicide through voluntary starvation.

Taylor Sheridan is currently setting up the final season of Yellowstone, but the series will continue with a modern-day spin-off set to star Matthew McConaughey. He’s also crafting the second season of 1923, the prequel series starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren.