What To Know
- The Madison Episode 1 is devoted to Robert Redford.
- The episode references one among Redford’s movies, however the late star has extra ties to Taylor Sheridan and Yellowstone.
- The Madison director explains why it’s a becoming tribute.
The first episode of The Madison is devoted to the late Robert Redford. While there’s a reference to one among his movies within the first episode, that’s not the one purpose the actor/director was honored by the Taylor Sheridan drama in its finish credit. Redford has private ties to Yellowstone and, in accordance to The Madison‘s director, his cinematic affect bleeds all through the collection. Warning: The Madison spoilers forward!
The Madison is a profound love story channeled by way of a deeply private household drama about resilience and transformation. It unfolds throughout two distinct worlds — the attractive panorama of Montana and the colourful vitality of Manhattan — because it examines the ties that bind households collectively after an sudden tragedy. The collection stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell because the central couple, Stacy and Preston Clyburn, whose love story is the foundational heart for his or her complete New York City-based household. The first three of six episodes got here out on March 14 on Paramount+, with the final three to comply with on March 21.
There’s a reference to Redford’s A River Runs Through It in Season 1 of The Madison. But his affect on the collection — and Sheridan’s work at massive — goes past simply that.
Why is The Madison devoted to Robert Redford?
There’s a dedication to Redford in the long run credit of Episode 1. Redford died on September 16, 2025. The late star didn’t work on the collection, however Redford’s westerns, each those he starred in and directed, have been massively influential to Sheridan and his western TV exhibits. In truth, Redford was initially going to play John Dutton in Yellowstone.
Sheridan advised The Hollywood Reporter in 2023 that, when he was first attempting to get Yellowstone made, he had a face-to-face assembly with Redford to strive to persuade him to be within the present. He was initially pitching the collection to HBO.
“They stated, ‘We want Robert Redford,’” Sheridan told THR. “They said, ‘If you can get us Robert Redford, we’ll greenlight the pilot.’” Sheridan hit the bottom operating.
“I drive to Sundance [the film festival Redford founded] and spend the day with him, and he agrees to play John Dutton,” Sheridan stated. “I call the senior vice president in charge of production and say, ‘I got him!’ ‘You got who?’ ‘Robert Redford.’ ‘What?!‘ ‘You said if I got Robert Redford, you’d greenlight the show.’”
“And he says — and you can’t make this shit up — ‘We meant a Robert Redford type,’” Sherdian added.
Paramount finally greenlit Yellowstone, with Kevin Costner within the lead position. That was the tip of Redford’s ties to Sheridan’s hit drama, however his affect remained.
Redford directed A River Runs Through It. The Clyburns watch the Brad Pitt-led movie of their resort room once they get to Montana following the tragic deaths of Preston (Russell) and Paul Clyburn (Matthew Fox), as a result of it was Preston’s favourite film (it’s additionally set in Montana). The brothers died in a aircraft crash as they tried to fly house earlier than a nasty storm hit the world the place they have been fishing. Paul was the pilot, and Preston was the one passenger.
At The Madison premiere in New York City on March 9, director/cinematographer Christina Alexandra Voros advised TV Insider that the dedication was completely Sheridan’s choice, however she absolutely endorses it.
“I can’t speak to the decision that was entirely Taylor’s. What I will say is, anyone who sees the show will understand why it is a love letter in many ways to a world that Redford certainly introduced to me,” Voros stated. “His name as a tribute at the end of that episode feels like the absolutely appropriate move to make.”
Redford’s westerns set on sprawling American landscapes have been a visible inspiration for all of Sheridan’s tales within the style, however The Madison, specifically, is all about falling in love with the land when experiencing it for the primary time — one thing that, as Voros stated, Redford’s movies did for her.
“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 stated.
“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,” she continued, “and how that changes as their perspective changes, experiencing the place themselves.”
The Madison, Season 1 Part 2 (three episodes), Premieres Saturday, March 21, Paramount+
