‘Yellowstone’ Alum Rob Kirkland Dishes on Working With a ‘Locked-in’ Taylor Sheridan

Taylor Sheridan has secured his place as one of Hollywood’s most revered creators, but for those in his orbit, there’s only one way to describe him.

“If you look up ‘locked-in’ in the dictionary, you will see a picture of Taylor Sheridan and that Texas jawline,” Rob Kirkland — who brought Sheriff Bill Ramsey to life in Yellowstone and currently stars as Captain Walter in Mayor of Kingstown — quips during an exclusive interview with Closer. “Taylor knows how to lock in.”

Kirkland, 53, knew immediately that Sheridan, 56, was wired differently after meeting him decades ago.

“From the jump, even before [the shows], I’m like, ‘Oh, this dude is sharp,’ like sharp in a different way,” he explains. “Taylor has an extraordinary amount of drive, clearly.”

Ultimately, Sheridan — who also created 1883, 1923, Tulsa King, Lioness and The Madison, just to name a few — “is a storyteller,” says the New Jersey native: “He finds a way to position himself organically, whether it’s writing, directing, acting or producing. It’s about the story for him.”

Sheridan famously opts to keep the same team on every production (“My core crew is the same crew I made [2017’s] Wind River with,” he told Joe Rogan in June 2026) and rehire actors for different roles, which only serves to make his projects run more efficiently — and help the cast and crew form genuine relationships.

“Taylor has the secret sauce on a lot of levels, in his talent and his acumen and everything else, but also, putting together families,” Kirkland explains, noting he still keeps in touch with his former Yellowstone costars.

Despite only appearing in a few episodes, “I did feel like part of the family and I find that across the majority of Taylor’s shows. We have this similar thing [with] Mayor of Kingstown,” Kirkland tells Closer of the crime thriller, now airing on Netflix. “I’ve been in this business for a minute and it is not always that way.”

At the end of the day, the Criminal Minds actor adds, “Everyone’s trying to do right by these extraordinary stories and worlds and characters that he’s created.”