Godless Is the Netflix Western Taylor Sheridan Fans Need Before the Next Yellowstone Spin-Off
Loved Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone prequel 1883? Saddle up for Godless, Netflix's criminally underrated Western that outguns the competition.
If you have burned through Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, Landman, and Special Ops: Lioness for the umpteenth time and still need dust in your lungs and gunpowder in the air, there is a ringer hiding in plain sight on Netflix. It is a seven-episode Western that does not just scratch the Sheridan itch — it goes toe-to-toe with it.
The Western you missed: Godless
Godless premiered in 2017 and never got the same fireworks as the streamer’s bigger water-cooler hits at the time. That is a shame, because it is one of the leanest, meanest Westerns TV has put up in years — the kind of story that reminds you the genre is equal parts beauty and bruises.
The setup is killer: in a New Mexico Territory mining town gutted by a catastrophic accident, the women left behind rebuild their lives without the men who worked those shafts. Into that fragile peace rides Roy Goode (Jack O'Connell), a wounded outlaw with a past he cannot outrun. When the vicious gang he split from comes hunting, the town has a choice — hand over the fugitive or dig in and fight.
Every episode has what you came for: hard country and harder choices, riders on the horizon, shootouts that bruise, and the constant threat of disease, lawlessness, and worse. Underneath all the dust, the character work hits the same emotional register that made 1883 sting. Jeff Daniels, channeling a very different energy than The Newsroom, turns in a chilling antagonist. O'Connell is magnetic in that quietly haunted way that sneaks up on you.
It looks like a feature, plays like a bullet
Part of the pull here is scale. Westerns are expensive — horses, period towns, sunrises you cannot fake — and TV rarely gets to sprawl. Godless does. The vistas are big, the towns feel lived-in, and the action lands with weight. It has the cinematic muscle of a studio Western without losing the intimacy of a limited series.
Why it belongs in your weekend queue
- Seven episodes, no filler — a complete story you can crush in a day or savor over a weekend.
- A premise that flips the frontier power dynamic and pays it off with grit and grace.
- Standout performances from Jack O'Connell and Jeff Daniels, plus a deep bench backing them up.
- Gorgeous, un-showy craft — the kind of scope that makes most TV Westerns look like dress rehearsal.
Waiting on the next Sheridan fix?
If you still need more once the credits roll, there is more on the way from the Dutton-verse and beyond. The next Yellowstone offshoot lined up is Marshals, with Luke Grimes back as Kayce Dutton and a premiere targeted for March 1. After that, fans can look forward to more Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler in Dutton Ranch, plus another numerically titled prequel, 1944. Those last two do not have dates yet.
In the meantime, Godless is sitting right there on Netflix — a complete, brutal, beautiful Western that earns every mile.