With Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga on the list of 2024 movie releases, the final episodes of Yellowstone slated on the 2024 TV schedule, and the alleged drama surrounding the two projects, they are constantly being spoken about together. Along with all the discussion about Costner’s involvement in them, they’re also both Westerns. So, now that the first trailer for Horizon has dropped, fans can’t stop comparing it to Yellowstone and its prequel series 1883.
After seeing the first trailer for Horizon, it became clear that Kevin Costner and his all-star cast are making a period Western that has a grand scale and big action. So, considering the fact that the film and Taylor Sheridan’s shows are the same genre, Costner is involved in both and the ensemble of Horizon is just as epic as Yellowstone’s cast, I get the comparisons.
Over on the YellowstonePN Reddit page, fans were discussing the new trailer for Horizon, and many of them couldn’t help but make comparisons to Taylor Sheridan’s Westerns that started with Costner and Yellowstone. Onetwentyoneegigawatt made a bold claim, saying that this trailer looked better than the first half of Yellowstone’s fifth season, writing:
This preview was better than the entire 5th season of Yellowstone.
Other fans, like kroqus, noted that Costner’s movie fits the vibe of 1883 more:
looks great, definitely feels like more 1883 though.
This makes sense; Horizon looks like 1883, and that’s because it takes place during the Civil War expansion through the first half of the 1800s. So, considering these two projects happen around the same time, in a similar place and there are many cowboy hats in both, I can see why they'd say that. Another fan, Jalynt13, agreed with the 1883 comparison, but they said the movie still had some Yellowstone in it, writing:
That is what I thought. It is Kevin Costner playing John Dutton set in 1883.
While some fans are thrilled that Horizon is giving Yellowstone and 1883 energy, AppleFan1994 was turned off by this, posting:
It’s his version of 1883. Blah.
However, the good outweighed the bad when it came to folks' opinions on this trailer. Noting the reports that Costner might not be in the final episodes of Yellowstone, IndividualFlow0 explained why they understand this reported decision, saying:
Fuck me, I would've left Yellowstone too. This is like the spiritual succesor of 1883 we never got. The music is damn good too.
If you look back at Kevin Costner’s movies, you’ll see that he’s always been a fan of Westerns. However, his name became synonymous with Yellowstone, so it makes sense that fans are comparing it to both that show as well as 1883.
To see if you agree with these comparisons, you can stream Yellowstone with a Peacock subscription and 1883 with a Paramount+ subscription. Then to finalize your thoughts on the matter, make sure to catch Horizon when its first chapter hits theaters on June 28.
