Exciting News, But I Wish He Was Directing

It’s fantastic news that somebody of Taylor Sheridan’s caliber is working on a Call of Duty movie, but I wish he were directing instead of just writing it. About a decade ago, Sheridan was a jobbing actor best known for his supporting work on Sons of Anarchy.

Fast forward to 2025, and Taylor Sheridan’s list of movies and TV shows is staggering. Sheridan is one of the most prolific and successful showrunners of modern times, being behind the likes of Yellowstone and its spinoffs, Lioness and Tulsa King. In addition to that, he penned the acclaimed Sicario and Hell or High Water.

I’m loving the news that Sheridan will be co-writing the upcoming Call of Duty movie with director Peter Berg. It’s an unusually starry line-up for a video game adaptation – a genre almost notorious for its shoddiness. After so many years working in TV, it’s also nice to see Sheridan heading back to movies again.

I Wish Taylor Sheridan Was Directing The Call Of Duty Movie Instead Of Just Writing It

Berg is a solid choice for Call of Duty, as seen by his past work like Lone Survivor. He’s a filmmaker who has had some duds (such as Mile 22), but he’s also made some great, character-driven action thrillers. That said, the part of the Call of Duty announcement that bums me out is that Sheridan isn’t directing too.

I doubt real-life cowboy Sheridan is much of a gamer, so if I were a betting man, I’d guess the storyline for the Call of Duty movie won’t be based on the games. Incredibly, Sheridan has only three movies to his name as a director, one of which (2011’s Vile) he disowned.

His last directing credit was back in 2021, and it doesn’t look like he’ll be stepping behind the viewfinder on a film anytime soon. I’d love to see what somebody like Sheridan, who has such a gift for character and dialogue, could do with a blockbuster like Call of Duty.

That’s no slight against Berg, but I can imagine what his version already looks like. I feel that Sheridan would find a way to deliver on the typical action blockbuster expectations, but in ways that are surprising and subversive.

Taylor Sheridan’s Previous Credits Prove He’d Be Perfect To Helm A Call Of Duty Movie

Before Yellowstone exploded and saw that Sheridan’s plate would be full with TV shows for the foreseeable future, Wind River made it look like his future would be helming R-rated thrillers. This acclaimed Neo-Western stars Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen as a tracker and FBI agent investigating a murder on a reservation.

While not exactly bursting with action, Sheridan stages the film’s setpieces with such visceral intensity. Wind River’s ambush scene is one of his most terrifying, and the great thing about it is that the action all flows from the story, instead of happening for the sake of it.

I think Sheridan’s third film, Those Who Wish Me Dead, is one of the most underrated thrillers of the 2020s. It’s also the closest he’s come to a pure action flick, and involves Angelina Jolie’s smokejumper protecting a teenage boy from a duo of assassins.

It’s a bigger-scale movie than Wind River, featuring multiple shootouts and some incredible sequences involving fire. I wish Sheridan had made two or three more projects like Those Who Wish Me Dead, but its tepid box office and his TV work pulled him in a different direction.

Sheridan has helmed the best episodes of Yellowstone, 1883 and Lioness too. It’s his particular style I’d love to see a Call of Duty movie filtered through, and while Berg will no doubt do a solid job bringing that feel to the final film, I want to see what a Taylor Sheridan movie with a $100 milion+ budget looks like.

I Want To See Taylor Sheridan Directing For The Big Screen Again

I got briefly excited this year when it was confirmed that a Sheridan-penned thriller called F.A.S.T. was moving ahead, assuming he was directing it too. That turned out not to be the case, with Sheridan’s longtime cinematographer Ben Richardson sitting in the director’s chair instead.

His fingerprints will be all over F.A.S.T. (which stars Brandon Sklenar, LaKeith Stanfield and Jason Clarke), but it will still be another filmmaker’s vision. Look, I get that Sheridan is essentially a one-man industry, and he keeps adding hit shows (like Landman) to his slate, but he’s overdue for a new film.

That’s the only reason the Call of Duty announcement is a disappointment, because I still really want to see it. It’s a little shocking it’s taken so long to happen, but considering how maligned most game adaptations are, it’s understandable that Activision has been cautious about mounting a film version.

If nothing else, with both F.A.S.T. and Call of Duty, it would be nice to see Sheridan’s screenplays returning to theaters. It doesn’t appear that Sheridan has any film projects in the pipeline as director, and it might be a few more years until he even has the time to focus on one.

Source: Rotten Tomatoes

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  Call of Duty

  
  

  Director

  Peter Berg

  Writers

  Peter Berg, Taylor Sheridan

  Producers

  Peter Berg, Taylor Sheridan, David Glasser

  
  

  
  

  
  

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  Video Game(s)

  Call of Duty: Classic, Call Of Duty 2, Call of Duty 3, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (2007), Call of Duty: World at War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2009), Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2011), Call of Duty: Black Ops II (dupe), Call of Duty Ghosts, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Call of Duty: WWII, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Vanguard (dupe), Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (2022), Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023), Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

  Call of Duty is a popular first-person shooter franchise known for its fast-paced action, immersive war settings, and engaging multiplayer modes. Spanning World War II, modern combat, and futuristic warfare, it features both single-player campaigns and competitive online play, evolving with innovative gameplay mechanics and blockbuster storytelling since its 2003 debut.