'Yellowstone' Officially Ending With Season 5 On Paramount Network
With its final episodes beginning in November, it will be succeeded by a sequel series premiering in December
It's official. Paramount Network's biggest hit, Yellowstone is ending after its current fifth season. The episodes will air beginning in November, and be followed in December by a still-untitled sequel series.
Unlike its predecessor series, which had its streaming rights sold off to Peacock with no foresight for Paramount+'s existence even just a year or months out from the rebrand, this sequel series will stream on the service. However, it's unclear whether it's same-day or next-day premieres, as it will replace Yellowstone on Paramount Network as its primary home. Premise and casting details are currently being kept on the down-low, but it is still believed that this is the new series Matthew McConaughey was reportedly in talks to star in featuring several major characters from Yellowstone. The series will come from creator Taylor Sheridan, MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios.
Rumblings of this fate began in February, as star Kevin Costner, who plays John Dutton, had set a far more severe limit on his shooting days, which started at 65, dropped to 50 for season 5A, to just a single week for season 5B, which consists of eight episodes, in favor of focusing on the two-part Western feature film Horizon. His people tried to deny the report of the work demands. Earlier in the week, Costner’s wife Christine Baumgartner filed for divorce after 18 years of marriage and he announced his departure from the show, after the season, before it was made clear that the show was ending when his involvement does. In April, the cast, including Costner, Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser, Luke Grimes, Kelsey Asbille, Wes Bentley, Gil Birmingham and Jacki Weaver, as well as Sheridan and David Glasser, did not show up for the show’s PaleyFest panel. In their place were an MTV Studios exec, along with Josh Lucas, who plays younger John Dutton, along with Mo Brings Plenty, Dawn Olivieri, and Wendy Moniz. Guess it was just that contentious.
Yellowstone follows the Dutton family and their Montana cattle ranch, It has been a breakout hit on modern linear television. The season 5 premiere, which aired in November 2022, pulled in a miraculous 17 million viewers. It's the kind of success that has allowed Sheridan to build a programming empire with the streamer, launching Yellowstone prequel series, the limited series 1883 and the renewed for a second season 1923, as well as unrelated but still successful series Mayor of Kingstown starring Jeremy Renner and Tulsa King starring Sylvester Stallone. His upcoming series include Special Ops: Lioness this summer, Land Man, and the anthology series Lawmen, with a first season starring David Oyelowo as Bass Reeves, and 6666, set at the centuries-old ranch at which Jimmy, played by Jefferson White, who had been at Yellowstone, now works.
