“There’s a crack in everything, that’s how the light gets in.” Leonard Cohen said that, and we believe it was secretly about James Jordan showing up in Taylor Sheridan projects like he has the keys to the backlot.

Yes, if you’re here thinking the crown prince of Sheridan’s casting couch is Jeremy Renner or that Emmy-magnet Jon Bernthal, recalibrate your IMDb radar. The real constant is Jordan; Sheridan’s unsung Swiss Army knife of storytelling. From the subzero nightmares of Wind River to the sweaty, oil-soaked grit of Landman, he has shape-shifted through six of Sheridan’s sagas.

You want range? Jordan’s got you covered – playing everyone from shady lawmen to philosophical cooks, prison guards to comic-relief engineers.

Unlikely face behind 6 Taylor Sheridan projects: It’s not who you think

James Jordan as Two Cups in SPECIAL OPS: LIONESS. Paramount+
Taylor Sheridan didn’t just hire James Jordan once and move on; no, the latter became his artistic lab partner in a science of suffering, survival, and the occasional dark humor.

It all started with Wind River in 2017. Jordan played Pete Mickens, a man whose sins practically curdled the film’s already chilling plot. Next came Those Who Wish Me Dead, where Jordan popped up again.

Then came Yellowstone. Here, Jordan didn’t just walk the line; he bulldozed it as Steve Hendon. Over 12 episodes, he oscillated between brute force and brittle loyalty, adding a layer of unpredictability to an already volatile landscape.

In 1883, Jordan turned cookie duty into a dramatic performance worthy of a curtain call. Meanwhile, in Mayor of Kingstown, he swapped aprons for batons, becoming Ed Simmons, a prison guard navigating a penal system.

Jeremy Renner and Gil Birmingham in Wind River | Credit: The Weinstein Company

And in Lioness, Jordan reincarnated as Two Cups (no explanation, no judgment), part of an elite counterterrorism squad with intensity. His latest addition to the Sheridan six-pack is Landman (2024–present), where he plays Dale Bradley, a petroleum engineer who doubles as a loyal roommate and comic relief sidekick to Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris.

No shade to Jeremy Renner; the man is Hawkeye, after all. He teamed up with Sheridan in Wind River and led Mayor of Kingstown with typical Renner grit. And Jon Bernthal? He is definitely impressive. But here’s the rub: Jordan? He’s Sheridan’s marathon man.

James Jordan on Taylor Sheridan’s work: Grit, Grace, and relentless pull of the page

In the ever-evolving constellation of Taylor Sheridan’s favored collaborators, James Jordan has become a fixed star. Yet, for all the camaraderie and creative shorthand earned through years of collaboration, he insisted the process remains “constantly challenging” (via Taste of Country).

Jordan first stepped onto Sheridan’s stage in Wind River (2017), a film that rippled with the early DNA of Yellowstone.

James Jordan in Landman (2024)

Since then, he has stamped his passport across Sheridan’s rugged fictional territories: Yellowstone, Those Who Wish Me Dead, Mayor of Kingstown, 1883, Lioness, and most recently, Landman. Each foray, he says, is its own pedagogical odyssey. Jordan reflected:
I think a great writer, a deep writer like Taylor is — like any writer that has depth to them — wants to find an ensemble of actors that he recycles.
Sheridan, a literary tactician with a gunslinger’s precision, seems to favor his recurring ensemble not out of habit but as a form of creative brinkmanship. Jordan said:
I’m not the only one; he uses a handful of us over and over again. I think he likes to challenge us, to see how far he can push us, and to see what we bring to the table in regard to his storytelling. 

James Jordan as Livestock Agent Hendon in Yellowstone | Credit: Paramount Network
In Landman, Jordan plays Dale Bradley, a petroleum engineer whose acerbic wit and loyal friendship with Billy Bob Thornton’s Tommy Norris inject doses of levity into the show’s darker veins. Paramount+ struck gold with Landman, which posted record-shattering numbers upon its season finale on January 12.

The studio has yet to issue a formal benediction for Season 2, and thus, official word remains under wraps, but the die appears cast. As for Jordan, the curtain has not yet fallen on his Sheridan era. He affirmed: