Taylor Sheridan and Peter Berg have found their next action-packed collaboration: a feature film adaptation of Call of Duty.

Entertainment Weekly has learned that the Yellowstone creator and Friday Night Lights writer-director have signed on to produce the film

alongside Paramount and Activision, the video game publisher behind the blockbuster game. Sheridan and Berg will also co-write the script together, with Berg set to direct.

 

 

Sheridan, best known for creating a vast empire of television shows that began with Yellowstone, has teamed up with Berg in the past. Together, the longtime friends produced 2017’s Wind River — which recently enjoyed a resurgence on streaming — and 2016’s Hell or Highwater, which earned four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Screenplay.

As far as their action capabilities, Sheridan previously penned Sicario and its sequel, while Berg directed espionage thriller Mile 22, war film Lone Survivor, and action-comedy Spenser Confidential.

 

 

The Call of Duty franchise has been the No. 1 best-selling video game series in the U.S. for 16 consecutive years, with over 500 million copies sold globally and reaching hundreds of millions of players worldwide. No plot or character details have been announced for the upcoming movie, though the filmmakers certainly won’t lack inspiration. The series has seen dozens of releases across the years, with the first-person shooter games typically following a group or individual in the midst of a military conflict. Settings have ranged from the Cold War and World War II to fictional, futuristic timelines.

News of a Call of Duty movie emerged earlier this year, with Puck reporting that Paramount had turned down a pitch from Steven Spielberg to adapt the game into a feature film.

Sheridan’s latest Paramount collaboration comes on the heels of a major shakeup in his TV empire: the Yellowstone creator is departing the studio after inking a five-year overall deal for film, TV, and streaming with NBCUniversal. Starting in 2029, Sheridan will be creating new IP for the network.

After beginning his Hollywood career as an actor, Sheridan has become one of the most prolific television creators of the decade. His TV deal with Paramount, which lasts through 2028, has spawned such series as Mayor of Kingstown, Landman, Special Ops: Lioness, Tulsa King, and several Yellowstone spinoffs such as The Madison, 1883, and 1923.

Comparatively, Sheridan’s feature film projects have been fewer and far between, with titles including 2021’s Those Who Wish Me Dead and his upcoming thriller, F.A.S.T., starring Brandon Sklenar.

In June 2018, Taylor Sheridan’s first television series, Yellowstone, premiered on the Paramount Network. Sheridan had found some success with his film Sicario, but no one was prepared for how massive a phenomenon his show would become. Soon, it seemed everyone was tuning in to witness the Dutton family’s struggle to hold on to Yellowstone Ranch.

Anchored by Kevin Costner’s gruff personality, Yellowstone has gained something of a reputation for being made with red states in mind. One could connect the dots between Sheridan’s rising popularity with the overall shifting of the American political landscape—if one wanted to. But the politics of the series aren’t that clear-cut. Before its conclusion last year, Yellowstone was one of the most visible platforms for Indigenous actors like Gil Birmingham and Mo Brings Plenty, and one of the few shows actually curious about Indigenous land sovereignty. (In fact, this became the entire foundation of the Yellowstone origin story, the series 1883.) Sheridan has written numerous queer female characters, but just as many scenes making fun of pronouns. He seems to be interested in powerful women, yet often sexualizes them. It’s all something of a mixed bag, and it’s not easy to pin down.

But the bottom line is that Yellowstone is an extremely watchable family drama, even where it falters. It also is, respectfully, a batshit series. There are huge soapy betrayals—a son finds out his father is not actually his father and that’s why he never felt his love, for example—and over-the-top scripts, especially as performed by Kelly Reilly. (“I hope you die of ass cancer!”) No wonder it was able to attract 13.6 million viewers in its final season.

Yellowstone added up to such a massive success for Paramount+ that the network gave Sheridan a blank check. Suddenly, he was producing as many shows as Ryan Murphy: Three in the Yellowstone universe, one about oil fields instead of cows and ranches, another that’s essentially just a Sylvester Stallone showcase, and even one about women in the CIA, with many more in production. But how many of his shows are actually good? And which ones will survive the tug-of-war as he departs Paramount for NBCUniversal, who recently poached him for $1 billion? We dove deep into the Sheridan back catalog, watching everything from Mayor of Kingstown to 1923 to rank all every single one of his shows. Read on for our list.