Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wife and daughters. At Collider, he writes features and reviews, and has interviewed the cast and crew of Dark Winds. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own. His first work of self-published fiction – The Beast of Bear-tooth Mountain – became a #1 Best Seller in “Religious Fiction Short Stories” on Amazon in 2023. His Western short story, The Devil’s Left Hand, received the Spur Award for “Best Western Short Fiction” from the Western Writers of America in 2025. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family.

‘The Son’ Was ‘Yellowstone’ Before Taylor Sheridan Took Over the TV Genre

Part of what has drawn so many in to Taylor Sheridan‘s Yellowstone franchise is that, although the flagship drama is a 21st-century neo-Western, the Dutton story has been explored further in prequels (and upcoming spin-offs) that emphasize how the Dutton empire rose in the first place. 1883 covers the original Montana branch of the family tree as they settle in the Last Best Place, while 1923 notes how they secured their home and fortune in the wake of greedy businessmen and a nationwide depression. But what truly sets The Son apart — which premiered on AMC over a year before Yellowstone first hit the Paramount Network — is that it blended two (and later three) time periods together to tell a sweeping Western epic over the span of 20 episodes. And with three fewer seasons than Yellowstone and no spin-offs to boot, it tells a fuller, more complete story about the harshness of the American West and the legacy of those who settled it than Sheridan ever could.

Pierce Brosnan’s Western Series ‘The Son’ Explores 2 Distinct Time Periods of American History

Conversely, the 1915 story engages with a narrative that feels eerily like Yellowstone, though it arguably handles its characters and plot with far more care and intentionality. Eli is the John Dutton-like (Kevin Costner) patriarch, as we’ve established, and just like the Dutton figurehead, he has two sons who are responsible for different functions of the family business — his older boy, Phineas (David Wilson Barnes), is the politically aspiring middle son, while his youngest, Pete (Henry Garrett), is the prodigal child who remains Eli’s favorite, the one he wants to take over the ranch one day. Like the Duttons, the McCulloughs fend off neighboring rivals who would just as soon take the land back from them (in this case, the Mexican García family rather than a collection of Indian tribes), as well as outside parties interested in the land for its oil. It doesn’t get more intense than this.

‘The Son’ Is a Gritty Western That Gets a Satisfying Ending

The biggest tragedy of The Son is that AMC axed the Western series too soon. After the first 10 episodes dropped in 2017, the Bronsan-led drama was quickly renewed by the network, but AMC quickly announced that Season 2 would be its final season as well. In 2019, the series ended with a climactic final episode that redefines the rest of the story, blurring the lines between the myth of the American West and the historical realities that founded it. It’s the type of ending that is as complicated as it is satisfying, but one that you’ll likely enjoy more than what Paramount would do years later with Yellowstone.