Long before Taylor Sheridan became the architect of the Yellowstone universe, he was playing a hapless Irish gangster getting dropped by a teenage private eye on Veronica Mars.
Sheridan’s first recurring television role came on the cult UPN/CW drama, where he appeared in five episodes between 2005 and 2007 as Danny Boyd, a low-level member of the Fitzpatrick crime family. It’s a footnote that sits in sharp contrast to the commanding creative force Sheridan would later become — the writer behind Sicario and the driving hand behind one of cable television’s most expansive dramatic universes.
Danny Boyd: Not Exactly Intimidating
Danny made his debut in the Season 2 episode “Ahoy Mateys,” when Veronica finds herself at the River Stix, the Fitzpatricks’ bar and base of operations. His introduction set the tone immediately: he shows Veronica a patch of dried blood on a pool table, fails to project any menace whatsoever, and ultimately gets neutralized by her taser when the Fitzpatrick boss Liam moves to confront her. From that first appearance, Danny Boyd was firmly established as the least threatening member of a crime outfit.
He wasn’t a one-off, though. Sheridan returned for four additional episodes across Seasons 2 and 3, weaving Danny into a storyline involving plastic surgeon Thomas Griffith, who was set to testify against Logan Echolls in a murder case. His final appearance came in the Season 3 episode “Debasement Tapes,” which also featured Paul Rudd as washed-up rock star Desmond Fellows.
A Career Pivot That Changed Everything
After wrapping his time on Veronica Mars, Sheridan moved to Sons of Anarchy, logging 21 episodes between 2008 and 2010. He eventually left that show following a dispute over his pay and made a deliberate shift toward writing. That pivot produced Sicario and eventually Yellowstone, along with the sprawling slate of shows that followed.
Despite having said he came to dislike acting, Sheridan never fully stepped away from it. He played Travis Wheatley on Yellowstone, reprised that role in 1883, and currently appears as Cody Spears on Lioness — proof that the man who once got tased on a CW drama still finds reasons to step in front of the camera.
