Amidst the high-stakes Dutton family drama, it was Yellowstone Showrunner and series creator Taylor Sheridan’s storyline got people talking after the December 8 episode.

Sheridan, who also plays a supporting role in the series as horse trainer Travis Wheatley, sparked online conversations among his fan base when he appeared in the penultimate episode and cast supermodel Bella Hadid as his character’s girlfriend.

In addition to stunt casting (Hadid recently joined the cowgirl fight herself), the two also spent their screen time playing strip poker with “half-naked women” at a time when fans are eager to see the storylines linked to be seen ahead of what Paramount+ is calling the show’s “special season finale” on December 15.

Female fans in particular vented their frustration on social media.

“As if Taylor Sheridan wasted one of the final episodes of this show by inserting himself to walk around with half-naked women. “We could have had 8 more episodes of Kevin Costner instead of this nonsense,” one person posted on X.

“Last night’s episode of #Yellowstone really showed the size of Taylor Sheridan’s ego,” another person wrote.

The episode has also raised questions about the way women are generally portrayed in Sheridan’s library of TV shows, most of which he writes himself.

“Sheridan’s casting of (Hadid) as his girlfriend is very much an expression of confidence and a certain form of machismo that I think people generally are a little bit like, ‘Oh, okay, you’re really feeling it.’ ‘Really.’ ‘So about yourself,'” Elle culture writer Lauren Puckett-Pope, who wrote about Hadid’s cameo, told Yahoo Entertainment.

“One of the main points of contention has been the significant age difference between Bella Hadid, 28, and Taylor Sheridan, 54, in their on-screen relationship. This dynamic is an exaggerated Hollywood cliché, with older men often paired with much younger women, which many found complacent,” Newsweek pop culture and entertainment reporter Billie Schwab Dunn told Yahoo Entertainment. “Especially for female viewers, this choice seemed emblematic of a broader problem in Sheridan’s work – female characters are often underdeveloped or used in ways that serve male-driven narratives.”

Puckett-Pope said that Hadid’s character also served a self-aggrandizing function on Sheridan’s part.

“When you put someone like Bella Hadid on your show and don’t give her a real character with a meaningful background, we learn nothing about that character other than her name and that she is his girlfriend,” Puckett Pope said. “She’s really just there to embody the allure of Travis or Taylor Sheridan.”

She added: “All of their dialogue is aimed at elevating the mythology surrounding Travis himself.” And so when you have a female character whose sole purpose is to do this and she happens to be the character , which is played by the creator of this universe, that will obviously cause some criticism.”

However, Sheridan could have made fun of his own reputation based on the dialogue between Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Sadie (Hadid).

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Beth tells Sadie in the episode, “(Travis is) probably the most arrogant man I’ve ever met in my life. Misogynistic. Condescending. Twenty-five years older than you. Can you please explain the objection?” Sadie replies, “Have you ever seen him ride?”

Sheridan did not respond to Yahoo Entertainment’s request for comment.

Hadid’s character is just the latest female role in the Sheridan TV universe to come under scrutiny. Some have also been vocal in their criticism of Sheridan’s latest series, Countrymanin which Billy Bob Thornton acts as a middleman between oil company executives and rig workers.

While Thornton’s performance and Sheridan’s portrayal of his character have been praised (Thornton recently received a Golden Globe nomination for his work in the series), so have the actresses who play his ex-wife and daughter – Ali Larter and Michelle Randolph described as “mostly empty caricatures” and the depiction of “male fantasies” on screen.

“The objectification of women on screen has been a norm since the founding of Hollywood,” Claire Sisco King, chair of cinema and media arts at Vanderbilt University, told Yahoo Entertainment.

She noted that in the case of Sheridan, where his shows take place in “traditionally masculine spaces – the ranch, the prison, the oil fields,” he also uses tactics to “appeal to a presumably heterosexual male audience…where women are hypersexualized and really turned on.” “Advertisement.”

Take, for example, Thornton’s on-screen daughter, who is said to be 17 years old.

King recalls a “very striking male gaze moment” in which Randolph’s character Ainsley “walks around in his underwear” while a friend and roommate of Thornton’s character looks on.

“He’s uncomfortable with it, but we still see him taking it in,” King said. “So the type of look is doubled. Like we look and see men looking at them.”

This adds to another criticism of Ainsley’s performance, this time the character sleeping in the same bed as her father during one episode.

“The fact that Tommy Norris’ (Thornton) 17-year-old daughter is also sexualized in the series leaves a bad taste in viewers’ mouths,” Dunn said.

Thornton recently defended Sheridan and Larter’s roles in the series.

“Taylor has had a hard time keeping up with critics over the years. I mean, he’s such a powerful guy. It’s easy to knock him down. But he had the best reviews he ever got Countryman” the actor told Deadline. “Some of them mentioned the women and said that Ali’s character was maybe a little cartoonish or whatever. And I have to tell you, I grew up down there in Arkansas and Texas and there are women like Ali.”

Larter previously praised Sheridan to Yahoo Entertainment, saying he adapted the role for her as it evolved.

“The amazing thing about Taylor is that he starts writing for his actors,” she said. “I think that’s really special – when someone writes for you, there are moments that are close to the vest, which is pretty great. So I love that.”

Whether it is Yellowstone, Countryman or Lioness, Many of the female characters are “characterized by some kind of sex appeal,” Puckett-Pope said.

“Some of it is very traditional sex appeal or stereotypical sex appeal, and some of it is more of a slightly different archetype. “You know, it could be the sexy cowgirl, the sexy ballbuster lawyer who tries to act like she’s a man but in reality she’s still a woman, the sexy environmentalist, the one with the governor of Montana sleeping,” she said. “Even some of the older characters still have that kind of beauty.”

A female character who has stood out for her independence and strength is Beth Dutton Yellowstonewho plays the daughter of patriarch John Dutton. But even Beth came under scrutiny as her storyline developed.

“While (Beth) is fierce, independent and complex, her story is often deeply traumatized and serves as a foil to the men around her,” Dunn said.

Puckett-Pope echoed that sentiment.

“For example, I really felt like I was playing Kelly Reilly’s character Yellowstone was one of the more nuanced female characters on the show, and I really enjoyed her performance back then, and I don’t feel that way anymore,” she said.

“The more and more it became about Beth protecting the ranch and saving the ranch and…just like anyone trying to attack her father’s legacy, I felt like her storyline stopped being about her and about what she actually wants to be as a character alongside (her husband) Rip.”

On the December 8th episode of Yellowstoneit’s Beth who pleads with Sheridan’s character, saying multiple times that she “needs” him – creating an unlikely saving grace for an otherwise minor character.

As these conversations continue online – amid spin-off confirmation for a show based on the characters of Beth and Rip, as well as another Yellowstone spin-off, The Madison – Speculation is growing about what this might mean for female audiences in the future.

“If Sheridan continues like this, he risks alienating female audiences who want more powerful and complex portrayals. Viewers are beginning to notice a similarity between his works, and if this pattern continues, his projects may struggle to maintain widespread appeal, potentially limiting their cultural relevance and commercial success,” Dunn said.

For Puckett-Pope, it’s not “sexy characters” that are fundamentally a problem.

“When these characters are always defined by the perception of the men around them — and the single man who writes them — it creates a flattening effect,” she said. “This approach can work for a while if Sheridan makes enough noise and makes enough money, which he certainly is doing now. I think he deserves a lot of credit for that. But I don’t think it can last forever.”

Yellowstone airs December 15th at 8pm ET on the Paramount Network.