How ‘The Madison’ Is Much Different From ‘Yellowstone’ & Other Taylor Sheridan Shows

Taylor Sheridan‘s The Madison, premiering Saturday, March 14, with three of six episodes, has been billed as the Yellowstone creator’s most “intimate” work to date. It’s true. The series is his most emotionally driven writing and largely free of the high-stakes and violent plots that drive his other shows. There was an intentional effort from Sheridan and his creative team to make The Madison stand out from the rest of his TV shows. The Madison director and cinematographer, Christina Alexandra Voros — who worked on Yellowstone for years — and The Madison actor Kevin Zegers tell TV Insider how they accomplished those differences.

The Madison is a profound love story channeled through a deeply personal family drama about resilience and transformation. It unfolds across two distinct worlds — the beautiful landscape of Montana and the vibrant energy of Manhattan — as it examines the ties that bind families together after an unexpected tragedy. The series stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell as the central couple, Stacy and Preston Clyburn, whose love story is the foundational center for their entire New York City-based family.

Voros explains that Yellowstone and The Madison are fundamentally different because one show is about a family that has called Montana their home for a century, and the others are on completely new terrain in the Madison River Valley of the state.

“Yellowstone is a story about people who have had a relationship to the land for generations, centuries, and Madison, for much of the cast, it is their understanding of a place for the first time, seeing that landscape with fresh eyes,” Voros says. That redefined how they filmed the Montana landscape.

“There was a lot of thought that went into how the world and the river and the mountains look the first time you see it…and how that changes as their perspective changes, experiencing the place themselves,” she explains.

Preston spends more time in Montana with his brother, Paul (Matthew Fox), and tries to convince his “city mouse” wife to see the place, but she never has in the decades he’s owned the patch of land, nor have their kids or grandkids.

Related

Are Taylor Sheridan's 'Yellowstone' & 'The Madison' Connected?

“[Preston’s] experience with the landscape was something that was lived in, in a way that [Stacy’s] experience was not,” Voros says, “and there was more of an evolution possible in seeing the world through her eyes.”

That meant a lot of scenes were filmed at golden hour to give a more magical feel to the landscape.

“We made a very concerted effort to try and shoot at the exact times of day that that landscape wanted to be shot,” Voros explains. “We have the most incredible crew that has been with us for years of doing Yellowstone. There’s a real shorthand, so when the sun is setting, and you have 15 minutes to get something when it’s a magic hour, that is the team to get it done for you.”

“It took a lot of people being really good at their jobs to pull it off,” she adds.

Zegers explains how The Madison is a narrative standout from Sheridan’s other shows, such as the Yellowstone spinoffs 1883 and 1923, as well as other shows like Tulsa King, Lioness, Mayor of Kingstown, and Lawmen: Bass Reeves. The characters drive the plot instead of the plot driving the characters, making it a meaty show for actors to dig their teeth into.

“It’s really different,” Zegers explains. “Where it could rely on plot or the bad guys are coming from over here, it’s so much more contained, and people just dealing with life. Because of that, it’s restrained and relies on actresses like Michelle and actors like Kurt.”

“There’s less of a net on this show because it’s just about people, and there’s no plot twist that’s going to drive the story forward,” Zegers goes on. “The story forward is how are these people going to move forward with their lives, and what are we all doing here with the time we have left? What does my life mean? And because of that, I think it’s a much more thoughtful show.”

Read our review of The Madison here. Season 2 has already been filmed.

The Madison, Series Premiere (three episodes), Saturday, March 14, Paramount+