Giddy-Up! Yellowstone Season 5 Finally Resumes Production
Charlie Mason
Editor
At long, long last, it has happened: Cowboy hats have been handed out, and Yellowstone has begun production on the back half of its fifth and final season, Paramount Network announced Monday.
If you think way back, you’ll recall that the megahit aired its midseason finale in January 2023. Since then — in addition to the writers’ and actors’ strikes that brought all of Hollywood to a standstill — behind-the-scenes conflicts prompted the network to send Taylor Sheridan’s drama to the train station and greenlight a spinoff that will continue the saga of the Dutton family. Reportedly in talks to reprise their roles are Kelly Reilly, who plays firebrand Beth, Luke Grimes, aka kid brother Kayce, and Cole Hauser, who rides tall in the saddle as Beth’s rough-hewn better half Rip.
The abrupt cancellation of the show is said to have put the kibosh on future story that was already in the works — like the introduction of a heretofore-unknown Dutton brother. But as luck would have it, the plots that were already being twisted lent themselves to what promises to be a logical conclusion: When last we had a new episode, Kevin Costner’s John was scheming with Beth to do away with adopted Dutton Jamie (Wes Bentley), and he in turn was conspiring with girlfriend Sarah (Dawn Olivieri) to put them out to pasture. (Costner is not expected to appear at all in Season 5B.)
Yellowstone is set to return with the last episodes of its super-sized final season in November. Hit the comments below with the endings that you most want to see for each character.
I’m confused by this (Costner is not expected to appear at all in Season 5B.)
If he’s not expected to be in the final half of what will be the series finale, then why cancel the show at all? Isn’t Costner not committing to more than a few hours for the rest of Season 5 the reason why they ended up canceling the show?
I think they’re inclined to cancel Yellowstone because it was grandfathered in their original deal to air for free on the broadcast channel and stream separately from the rest of the Sheridan shows. Now that they’re primarily Paramount+, they’d probably prefer to have their most popular show behind the paywall and tease it on network TV occasionally like they did during the strike to a massive audience.
So if they shutter Yellowstone and relaunch it as a sequel series, they’re free to put that one where they want it, on Paramount+ with the rest of his catalog, enticing fans to subscribe.
And even more Peacock has the streaming rights to Yellowstone. They wouldn’t have rights to a spin-off/continuation.
Count me out! I am already paying too much!
They threw Kevin Costner under the bus so that they can cancel the series and have a spinoff.
Once they cancel, they have a set time, and then it is off Peacock and on Paramount+. That is their goal.
Like Game of Thrones, this will be one of the WORST endings ever of a series. Because without Kevin Costner, who cares. The story is going to take place off screen and that is not interesting.
Kevin couldn’t commit because he was filming his movie, and the initial Yellowstone schedule did not start on time, so they could not give him an updated schedule. I get it; he had actors and a film crew that he was obligated to pay for and continue his schedule on that project. A second issue was Taylor having too many Yellowstone spin-offs and not having the scripts ready for Yellowstone.
But Kevin’s movie has long since wrapped up. The scripts were probably finished months ago when Kevin was no longer filming. If production is starting now, why can’t Kevin finish out Yellowstone?
Costner just started filming Horizon 3 a few days ago
And Costner has said that “Horizon” is meant to be a four-part saga.
How can there be an logical conclusion if Costner doesn’t appear in Season 5B?
Completely agree. I thought Beth’s character was completely unhinged where Jamie was concerned last season to the point of really loving her character for the first few seasons to starting to hate her last season. The only person that saved the show and that storyline was John – Costner. Without him, it feels like she will be unwatchable, which doesn’t thrill me.
At this point I’ve lost interest. Taylor Sheridan let his ego get out of control and really overextended himself. Kevin Costner has finally spoken out about his side which provides a bit more perspective.
I totally agree and I just posted a comment about this. The way I perceived everything from the getgo was that Taylor’s ego got out of control and he tried to force Kevin to do what he wanted. Kevin was trying to work out the schedule LONG before it became an issue. There’s no reason that Taylor and the network couldn’t have compromised and accommodated it.
I’m out. Taylor Sheridan and his ridiculously oversized ego ruined a fantastic series.
Lost interest. To much time has passed since 5a, forgot most of the story line. At this point with summer around the corner have no time to go back and rewatch to catch up. With out John Dutton, and an off screen write off, not with my time. Bring back S2 1923.
Don’t forget that there were also strikes that occurred since 5a. I wholeheartedly agree about S2 of 1923; I think that is the best “Yellowstone” of them all!
Yes it is. I have watched all 3 and like 1923 the best.
Considering how bad the reviews are for Costner’s Horizon movie, it’s a shame that he tanked not just Yellowstone but his kids’ inheritance for a vanity project which will be this generation’s Waterworld. Costner doesn’t even have the money to finish the movies.
Cannes gave him a 7 minute standing ovation after watching it.
Usually most movies that the critics hate are popular with the general public and do well. Conversely, the critics loved The Power of the Dog and it won tons of awards. I only finished it because I watched small bits at a time and figured the good part would be coming. It didn’t ever come but it was a critical darling. That’s time I’ll never get back.
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I’ll take Kevin Costner ANY day over Taylor Sheridan!
Strange then, that he got a 10 minute standing ovation at the Cannes film festival. So what reviews are you refering too?
Cannes also gave The Paperboy a 15 minute standing ovation.
Horizon is currently 25% on Rotten Tomatoes.
After reading the comment I checked and unfortunately the reviews aren’t kind thus far. Variety, Hollywood Reporter and Vanity Fair all gave poor reviews, and it sits at 31% at Rotten Tomatoes.
Bear in mind that the Rotten Tomatoes scores doesn’t include the Audience Score since it hasn’t been released yet. I imagine that will change the score dramatically. Just saying…….
Yellowstone without Costner sounds even more questionable than McMillan & Wife without the Wife
Why bother. Kevin Costner in typical Hollywood fashion has already ruined the series by quitting the series mid-season due to personal problems. Everyone has personal poblems, but they don’t quit work because of them. He’s just another hollywood spoiled brat. I used to like him. But, like Tom Cruise, Robert DiNiro and the other brats I’ll never spend a nickel on him again.
Kevin didn’t quit due to personal problems. He has repeatedly said that he would return. Taylor is the one who refused to compromise and tried to force and demand, and he chose to write Kevin out of the show.
They took a good show and let it flop because of egos! Too bad that now all of a sudden there will be a 2 hour show ending segment!
It will not be worth watching if Kevin Costner’s character is not in it.
It makes no sense not to have Kevin Costner in the finale. It really doesn’t make sense for the show to end either. They could have gone on for several more seasons. Costner’s divorce is finalized and his reasons for needing Less hours to film don’t seem as pressing. I don’t know the man so I can’t say for sure. I really hope he and Taylor Sheridan can act like grown ups and resolve it somehow. It makes no sense that he would not be in the finale he is too much the heart and soul of that show next Rip of course.
Kevin Costner needs to finish the season!! Come on!!
As much as I’ve loved Yellowstone, the drama between Taylor Sheridan and Kevin Costner really turned me off Taylor Sheridan and his ego. I think it’s pretty pathetic that he is suddenly changing course and writing the most important character of the show off immediately simply because of fighting over the production schedule because of Kevin’s other project. Long before this all became an issue, minimum of 6 months before, I read an interview of Kevin in which he discussed his passion project and that he was already discussing with Taylor and the network about working around the production schedule, making it all work. But then suddenly they changed how season 5 would be released and filmed which created the problems, and it 100% came across to me like Taylor tried to force Kevin to choose and made the whole thing difficult. It came across to me like Taylor got up in his ego with all of these successful shows, and decided he didn’t want to compromise, he wanted to force him to do it how he wanted. And the whole drama came from Kevin not putting up with that treatment. Kevin knew way in advance and talked about working this out ahead of time, and then in the middle of it suddenly it’s a problem and they blamed it all on Kevin? I call BS. Taylor created this issue for no reason, and now it makes me not want to watch his shows because I’ve lost respect for him.
I LOVE Yellowstone and the two prequels, 1883 and 1923. IMO, there is no GOOD reason for Yellowstone to be ending yet, AND I would appreciate it if the arrogant Mr. Sheridan would complete 1923…preferably BEFORE he comes up with 10 more shows!!! Also would like to see a couple more seasons of Tulsa King. Funny how Yellowstone’s production problems are being blamed on Kevin Costner, yet ALL of Taylor Sheridan’s productions are way behind schedule. Not sure what Yellowstone without John Dutton is going to look like…
It has been gone too long. We have moved on……
Makes no sense to write out John Dutton already. How can you have a series finale without the star? Even if you are going to kill him off, he has to be there first, unless he dies in a plane wreck or out of town. I am sad but will watch because it was such a good show. Too bad it had to end like this. At this point, why bother finishing it. Viewers have moved on.
While I’m really happy that Yellowstone is returning , no Kevin Costner is not good at all 😟 In fact I would love to see Yellowstone continue as the show is awesomely amazing and the actors and actresses are top notch ❤️😎 work it out!!!!
Please let Kevin C. Come back to finish Yellowstone it want be the same without him.
Loved this series but have had it up to here with Costner and hope he never returns. RIP has become the main character and I’d like to see him and Beth finish this series out by building a home on the acreage alluded to in a prior episode and enjoy a much less dramatic future for themselves. The ranch could be sold off as a nature conservation property protecting itself from any further development.