“If you suck we’ll just kill you off”: Taylor Sheridan Never Planned For One Beloved Character to Enter the Yellowstone Universe Until He Realised This

Taylor Sheridan might have started off on the wrong foot during his Hollywood career, but he sure has gotten along exceptionally well. Starting as an actor in small roles, Taylor Sheridan is now a hit writer, producer, and director, best known for creating the magnificent world of Yellowstone. Full of some brilliant actors and characters, Sheridan’s hit Paramount series wasn’t supposed to look like this initially.

At the start, there was no mention of our fan-favorite character Walker, played by Ryan Bingham. A free-spirited cowboy who does not always get along with everyone, Sheridan decided to cast Bingham after learning he could ride horses.

Ryan Bingham’s Walker Wasn’t in Taylor Sheridan’s Original Script for Yellowstone

Taylor Sheridan‘s Yellowstone stars some of the most incredible actors of all time. Even its many spin-offs have big names like Harrison Ford and Sam Elliott attached to them. However, when it comes to the fan-favorite Walker, Sheridan had no plans to introduce such a character, for he wasn’t even in the script.

It wasn’t until Sheridan contacted American singer-songwriter Ryan Bingham for a song for the show that Walker came into existence. In an old interview on the Bobby Bones Show, Bingham revealed how his character came into existence,

They cast me once [Yellowstone] was already going. Taylor Sheridan, the writer and director, prior to this, wrote and directed a film called Wind River. He contacted me then about writing a song for that movie, but I never came up with anything that stuck. Then this show came around and he contacted me about writing a song for the show. Then he found out I could ride horses, and I used to rodeo.

While he did end up singing and playing the guitar in the show, Sheridan decided to cast him after getting to know he could ride horses and used to do rodeo back in the day. Yet, he did warn Ryan Bingham that Walker would be killed off if he wasn’t good at the job.

Taylor Sheridan Would Have Killed Walker if it Weren’t for Ryan Bingham

Ryan Bingham is a well-known singer, songwriter, and guitarist who has released several famous albums. An Academy Award and Grammy-winning artist, Bingham, has dabbled a bit in the acting field, but it wasn’t until Yellowstone that he got cast in such a fan-favorite role.

But, before he was cast as Walker, Sheridan had warned him that if he wasn’t too good at the job, he’d be let go, with his character killed off. While on the Bobby Bones Show, Bingham revealed,

And he said, ‘Shoot, I’m going to have to write you in… I don’t know what I’m going to do with you but I guess we’ll figure it out’. So, we came up with the character of Walker and he basically told me, ‘We’ll see how it goes. If you do good I’ll keep you on and if you suck we’ll just kill you off’

Although his cowboy has come close to being killed off, he nonetheless has managed to survive it all. Now a beloved character of the Yellowstone universe, if it wasn’t for Bingham putting in a real effort, Walker would not have survived this long.

Yellowstone can be streamed on Peacock.