Yellowstone is dead, long live Yellowstone
Paramount announced Yellowstone will end with its fifth season, and a new sequel will pick up where the show left off
The rumors, as it turns out, are true. Amid alleged drama between creator Taylor Sheridan and star Kevin Costner, Yellowstone is officially coming to an end. Paramount announced the news on Friday while simultaneously confirming that the Yellowstone sequel, which has been courting Matthew McConaughey as a lead, is moving forward (per Deadline).
In statements on the subject, Paramount brass glossed over the massively successful flagship show’s finale in favor of promoting the next chapter. “Yellowstone has been the cornerstone on which we have launched an entire universe of global hits — from 1883 to Tulsa King, and I am confident our Yellowstone sequel will be another big hit, thanks to the brilliant creative mind of Taylor Sheridan and our incredible casts who bring these shows to life,” said Chris McCarthy, president and CEO Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios (via Deadline). And David Glasser, CEO of co-producers 101 Studios, said, “The Dutton story continues, picking up where Yellowstone leaves off in another epic tale. We are thrilled to bring this new journey to audiences around the world.”
The company has quite an ambitious plan to make the transition from Yellowstone to the new show (which will reportedly also bear the Yellowstone name) feel seamless for viewers. According to Deadline, the final episodes of Yellowstone’s fifth season will air in November, and the sequel will premiere in December. Not only that, but the outlet reports that several of the original cast members (ones not named Kevin Costner) are expected to return for this latest spin-off.
How this accelerated timeline will be accomplished in the middle of a writers’ strike is unclear. There is no confirmation about what scripts Sheridan had finished before the strike was called. But if Paramount is announcing late 2023 premiere dates, one imagines the company is confident about having scripts in hand. That confidence was reflected in Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish’s comments on a Q1 earnings call on Thursday (via Variety), when he said that “we have a lot in the can, so to speak, content in the can,” adding that “consumers really won’t notice anything for a while” even if the strike has an “extended duration.” (If the Screen Actors Guild and/or the Directors Guild go on strike when their contracts expire in June, it’ll be a different story.)
The drama may in fact turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Paramount. Though the series may be losing Kevin Costner, it may gain Matthew McConaughey, an A-list star who will likely draw viewers outside the Yellowstone fandom. And now that Yellowstone OG is ending, Paramount’s unfortunate streaming deal with Peacock will no longer be an issue—the new show will air on Paramount Network and Paramount+, instead of confusingly streaming on a competitor’s platform.
As for Kevin Costner, the actor who made Yellowstone what it is today, Deadline reports uncertainty as to whether he’s returning for the final episodes of the series at all. Costner and Sheridan were rumored to be feuding over filming commitments, though Costner’s lawyer adamantly denied that his client was only willing to return to set for a single week. Costner is currently busy filming his own Western Horizon (and going through a divorce).
Regardless, Yellowstone as we know it is coming to an end. But also, Yellowstone as we know it is kind of continuing? Yellowstone is done, but we also haven’t seen the last of Yellowstone. And long may the Yellowstone Cinematic Universe reign.