Yellowstone seasons 1-5 spoilers follow.
Get ready for another season of romance, family drama, violence and betrayal as the Duttons gear up for the second half of Yellowstone season five.
The story of the Dutton family, owners of the largest ranch in Montana, is now one of Paramount's biggest successes. When Yellowstone returned to our screens in November of 2022, it brought in 12.1 million US viewers, up over a million compared to the season four finale.
But in recent years, the behind-the-scenes machinations have started to rival the drama itself, with reports of tension between the show's co-creator Taylor Sheridan and its star Kevin Costner. Amid rampant speculation, the news finally came last year that Costner will be leaving the series, with season five set to be Yellowstone's last.
"We did negotiate," Costner explained (via USA Today). "There were issues about creative. I tried to break the log jam. They walked away."
Sheridan said he was "disappointed" about Costner's departure, adding: "It truncates the closure of his character. It doesn't alter it, but it truncates it."
But it sounds like there are no hard feelings from Sheridan's side of the picket fence.
"His creation of John Dutton is symbolic and powerful," Sheridan continued. "I've never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn't work out on the phone. But once lawyers get involved, then people don't get to talk to each other."
The last we saw of the Duttons, John (Costner) was finding his feet as Montana governor, while Jamie (Wes Bentley) and Beth (Kelly Reilly) embarked on all-out war.
Season four ended with a wedding, a court case, blackmail and murder – so there's a high bar to clear for the season five finale, which we now know will also be the end of the very show that launched the Sheridanverse.
Read on to find out what season five has in store in part two.
Yellowstone season 5 part 2 potential release date: When will it air?
While the writers' and actors' unions reached a deal with the studios last year and have now been able to return to work, the final instalment of Yellowstone will not begin filming until late spring 2024, according to Deadline.
This makes sense, as Taylor Sheridan's show shoots a significant number of scenes outdoors in Montana, meaning sunny skies are preferable. So, as much as they probably wanted to get started as soon as the strike placards were put down, there's still a little bit of waiting to do.
The spring shoot has impacted the planned release of the second half of season five, with Paramount now slating it for a November 2024 premiere window.
While the fact that this is the end of Yellowstone will be a blow to fans, it's also been confirmed that the Dutton story will continue in a new sequel, which will pick up where the final season of Yellowstone leaves off.
"Yellowstone has been the cornerstone on which we have launched an entire universe of global hits – from 1883 to Tulsa King," Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studio, said of the news.
"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."
The modern-day Yellowstone spinoff series, entitled 2024, is set to land when the main series has concluded.
Yellowstone season 5 part 2 cast: Who will be in it?
We can expect most of the main cast to return for season five part two, including Luke Grimes (as son Kayce), Kelly Reilly (as daughter Beth), Wes Bentley (as son Jamie), Cole Hauser (as ranch foreman Rip Wheeler) and Gil Birmingham (as Chief Thomas Rainwater).
The question is whether or not Kevin Costner's patriarch John Dutton will return to the fold amid a rumoured rift with Sheridan.
Costner has said he does hope to return to the show at some point in the future, as they had initially planned to stretch the Yellowstone story over seven seasons.
"I'd like to be able to do it but we haven't been able to," Costner told Entertainment Tonight. "I thought I was going to make seven [seasons] but right now we're at five. So how it works out – I hope it does – but they've got a lot of different shows going on. Maybe it will. Maybe this will circle back to me. If it does and I feel really comfortable with [it], I'd love to do it."
So that's not a no, but also not really a yes on whether Costner will appear in the backhalf of season five. We'll have to watch this space for now.
Wendy Moniz, who stars as Governor Lynelle Perry, confirmed she has gone from a recurring cast member to a series regular for the new season in an Instagram post featuring a series of photos from her time on set.
Jennifer Landon (ranch hand Teeter) and Kathryn Kelly (vet Emily) have also become series regulars for season five.
Josh Lucas, who plays the younger version of John Dutton, also returned to the series for the first time since 2019, and he was joined by Kylie Rogers (young Beth Dutton) and Kyle Red Silverstein (young Rip Wheeler).
Q'orianka Kilcher, who plays Angela Blue Thunder, also returned after she was last seen in the season three finale.
There are new cast members, too, including Dawn Olivieri as a corporate shark and Country artist Lainey Wilson, who announced her role at Montana's Under The Big Sky festival.
"I'm going to be in the next season of Yellowstone," she told the crowd, "and I’m excited. I'm going to be a musician on the show named Abby, and I get to share my music with a lot of the world who watches the show."
There is one character who probably won’t return, however. Jimmy Hurdstrom, played by Jefferson White, left Yellowstone for the 6666 ranch in Texas at the end of season four, and will next be seen in co-creator Taylor Sheridan's spin-off series, 6666, which is currently in development.
Yellowstone season 5 part 2 plot: What's going to happen?
There's a lot coming in the back half of Yellowstone season five, but not even the cast know exactly what that's going to look like because filming hasn't even begun yet on the next batch of episodes.
Speaking to TV Insider, Piper Perabo (who plays Summer Higgins) said: "There's a lot coming. Things are on the move. I can't wait to get back to the back half just because I want to know what happens. I personally only know what happens up to the midseason finale up to that last second, and I don't know what happens when we come back...."
"I think you can tell that things are going really south," she adds, "because [the seventh] episode doesn't end at the fair; it ends with him practicing that speech. And Taylor's very good – if you're paying attention, he's telling you where the trouble's coming from," she added.
"I think the fact that he ends with that scene is, for those paying attention, he's showing you."
Yellowstone actor Wes Bentley has revealed that showrunner Taylor Sheridan, already has a plan for how the show will end.
Speaking at the Screen Actors Guild headquarters in Los Angeles, Bentley revealed that Sheridan has told him he knows how it will end. However, he wasn't told exactly how Yellowstone will conclude.
As reported by Deadline, Bentley said: "[Taylor] has said to me, he knows how he wants to end it. That was a while ago. I’m sure he didn’t know how we were going to get there but he knows how."
However, Bentley also wanted to clarify that this doesn't mean he knows how many episodes or seasons it will take the show to reach this conclusion, so we hopefully have a long time yet before that happens.
A key element of season five will be how Rip's relationship with Carter evolves. We got a brief look at a grown-up Carter in season four, with Rip taking his time to accept him in season five part one. It sounds like their connection will be explored further in season five part two, according to Cole Hauser (via ScreenRant).
"I was a hard ass on him," he said. "It's tough love in season four, and I don't think much has changed, but there's a little bit of... Not kindness but a little bit more of... 'Okay, you're doing all the things that I expect you to do, and you're working your ass off, you're trying'.
"And that's all you can ask from a young kid, and he sees a lot of himself.
"So there are little diamonds that Rip gives him along the way for the season to help them grow but still. Very tough but strict when it comes to it."
Yellowstone season 5 part 2 trailer: When can I watch it?
Following a teaser clip in August, Paramount released a full trailer for season five that begins with John being sworn in as governor before everything starts to unravel. The trailer indicated that there was going to be plenty more conflict for the Dutton family in the coming months.
But what about part two of Yellowstone's fifth season? Unfortunately, there's no new footage yet because the second half of season five hasn't started filming yet.
Yellowstone airs on Paramount+.
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Critic and writer Jo Berry has been writing about TV and movies since she began her career at Time Out aged 18. A regular on BBC Radio, Jo has written for titles including Empire, Maxim, Radio Times, OK!, The Guardian and Grazia, is the author of books including Chick Flicks and The Parents’ Guide to Kids’ Movies.
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