Over recent decades, a subgenre of Western TV shows has developed its own niche across networks and streaming platforms, portraying stories with traditional Western tropes set in the modern day. Neo-Westerns used to be the preserve of arthouse movie directors, but they now account for some of the most popular series on television.
In fact, along with crime dramas, sci-fi and fantasy series, modern-day Westerns have helped define the golden age of prestige TV. The greatest among them hold up against the best neo-Western movies ever made. They’re well worth reviewing as a collective, to examine just how far the Western genre has come on the small screen in the 21st century.
For the sake of clarity and consistency, this list is applying the definition of “neo-Western” only to modern TV shows which fit the Western genre’s blueprint in the most literal and straightforward sense. Series with science fiction or supernatural elements, such as Westworld and Wynonna Earp and Outer Range, aren’t included, and space Westerns aren’t either.
What’s more, period Westerns which are set in the distant past but after the historical epoch of the Old West had ended, like Dark Winds or 1923, aren’t being considered as strictly neo-Western here. Nor are early Western TV shows with a modern setting that predate the subgenre by multiple decades, as the 1970s Glenn Ford series Cade’s County does.
Landman
2024–Present
Starring Billy Bob Thornton in one of his best TV roles, Landman is based on the true story of the real Texas oil boom, with its lead actor playing an unscrupulous fossil fuels prospector on behalf of major petroleum companies. Inspired by the non-fiction podcast Boomtown, the show is the brainchild of neo-Western pioneer Taylor Sheridan, and Christian Wallace.
Much like Sheridan’s other work in the genre, Landman is populated by anti-heroes whose motives are understandable even if their actions are often highly questionable. The law often seems able to bend to the will of rapacious petro-capitalism, which the series presents as a new version of the Wild West during 19th century gold rushes.
Justified: City Primeval
2023
The spinoff of a neo-Western show which hardly requires introduction, Justified: City Primeval sees several cast members from its parent production return for an eight-episode miniseries that’s just as captivating, if not quite as intricately crafted. Principal among the returning stars is Timothy Olyphant, who’s back to resume his career-defining role as maverick U.S. marshal Raylan Givens.
Raylan might have moved to Miami for an easier life, but runaway criminals from out West still manage to disrupt his life down in southern Florida. Although Boyd Crowder is safely behind bars, an even more dangerous and deadly vagabond known as “The Oklahoma Wildman” is on the loose. Of course, only Raylan Givens can track him down.
Territory
2024
This one-season Australian Western set on the world’s largest cattle ranch deserved more than to get canceled by Netflix after just six episodes. For one thing, Territory’s potential about Marshall Lawson’s real father is now unlikely ever to be resolved. Akin to Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone, the show gives a gripping family drama epic scope via its wild, rural setting.
Territory is far from a carbon copy of Sheridan’s Dutton family saga, however. It’s shaped by the cultural specifics of Australia’s Northern Territory as much as the traditions of the Western genre. It could also be cultural factors that bring the difficult internal dynamics of the Lawson family much closer to boiling point much more frequently than their American counterparts.
Joe Pickett
2021–2023
Wildlife warden Joe Pickett, played by Michael Dorman, was expecting a quiet life upon moving to the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. What he finds instead is a murder mystery which brings him into conflict with a powerful local family. This series is every bit as earthy as it sounds, yet there’s plenty of menace lurking within its mountain setting.
It has far more to it than rugged scenery and the resistance of local patrons to a curious newcomer. While Joe Pickett hasn’t been renewed for season 3, its 20 episodes still immerse us in the sinister underbelly of a world that’s just as complex as it is stunningly beautiful.
Yellowstone
2018–2024
The Yellowstone franchise keeps growing with Beth and Rip’s spinoff now confirmed, and it’s no wonder. Taylor Sheridan’s flagship neo-Western is wildly popular, in large part thanks to its array of engrossing characters, whose stories feel as relatable as they are foreign to those of us who don’t live on a gigantic cattle ranch in the Montana wilderness.
Beth Dutton alone is one of the best female characters in the history of the entire Western genre. Nevertheless, it’s her father, John Dutton, played by legendary actor Kevin Costner, who initially made the series one of streaming TV’s biggest draws. In addition to the Duttons, though, Yellowstone is stacked with more than its fair share of brilliant villains.
Not many other TV shows in any genre could boast a collection of antagonists half as good as Dan Jenkins, Teal Beck, Roarke Morris, Wade Morrow, Sarah Atwood, and Garrett Randall. Besides perhaps Kayce Dutton and his wife, Monica, it’s hard to root for anyone in Yellowstone all that much. But it’s simply impossible to stop watching.
Fargo
2014–2024
Before Jon Hamm became a Texan oil magnate in Landman, he played his first Western role as Sheriff Roy Tillman in Fargo. This five-season masterpiece is far more than an adaptation of the seminal Coen Brothers crime movie. It’s a noir-inflected crime anthology portraying multiple time periods in various states across the American Midwest with painstaking authenticity.
The show boasts a healthy dose of Coen-inspired dark humor, as well as the kind of all-star cast most TV productions could only dream of. The result is the closest thing to Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul not made by Vince Gilligan.
More than these two series, however, Fargo applies classic Western archetypes to modern scenarios, as it primarily depicts the struggles of morally-conflicted law-enforcers or outlawed anti-heroes for justice and vengeance. Most of the show might take place in the snowy suburbs of Minnesota, but its storylines belong in the plains and deserts of the Old West.
Longmire
2012–2017
When it comes to neo-Westerns set in the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park, Longmire beats Yellowstone and Joe Pickett, hands down. Walt Longmire’s approach to law enforcement has much more to do with John Wayne’s surly, no-nonsense sheriffs of the 19th West than the modern practices of local U.S. police forces.
Robert Taylor’s landmark neo-Western character is the toughest-talking protagonist in the subgenre, and he isn’t shy about walking the walk, either. At the same time, Longmire features perhaps the most balanced and insightful screen portrayal of how an Indian reservation is governed by any modern Western.
Ultimately, though, it’s Walt Longmire who owns the story, proving that the archetypal heroes of classic Westerns do have a place in modern television if done right. John Dutton wouldn’t have lasted five episodes with Longmire around.
Justified
2010–2015
As great as both Longmire and Fargo are, it’s difficult to argue against Justified being the best neo-Western TV show of all time. The oldest show on this list defined what a great neo-Western on the small screen should look like.
It took textbook characterizations from traditional Western stories, enriched them with modern contradictions, and gave them an extra layer of grit for good measure. Raylan Givens feels like an old-fashioned lawman from the Wild West, who lives on his wits and doesn’t care for today’s legal protocols. But he’s also deeper and more complex than the characters who inspired him.
Boyd Crowder isn’t just any outlaw. He’s an outlaw bound to the federal marshal pursuing him in ways that a villain of the Old West couldn’t be. Boyd and Raylan are children of the industrial age, who share the kind of bond familiar to many others from Harlan County, Kentucky. Their story encapsulates the neo-Western subgenre better than any other.
