The end of “Yellowstone” and Kevin Costner’s departure left fans deeply perplexed. Now series creator Taylor Sheridan reveals more information about the “spin-off” with Matthew McConaughey.Â
- Paramount’s “Yellowstone” universe has already found a suitable replacement following Costner’s departure.
- A 6th season of “Yellowstone” is not planned, but with “1944” and “2024” with Matthew McConaughey there are two spin-offs.
- The popular Paramount+ series “Yellowstone” will also be available on streaming service Netflix from January 2024.
“Yellowstone” without Kevin Costner – seems impossible! Not only many fans thought so, but also Paramount. The successful series by Taylor Sheridan was therefore canceled after 5 seasons when it became clear that Costner wanted to devote himself to other projects.
Season 5 of “Yellowstone” isn’t over yet, however, with 6 episodes still to come – or more if the plot demands it. “If it takes 10 episodes to wrap up the story, then [Paramount will give me] 10,” Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter, “[Season 5] will be as long as it needs to be.”
The final “Yellowstone” episodes are scheduled to start in the USA in November 2024, after a long back and forth with lead actor Kevin Costner and the writers’ and actors’ strike last year made it difficult to continue production until now.
Presumably, however, Costner’s John Dutton will get a round ending, as was always planned. According to Sheridan, John Dutton was never supposed to see the end of the “Yellowstone” story, so the series can continue to end exactly as Sheridan once planned when he was still developing “Yellowstone” as a movie.
Nevertheless, Sheridan is disappointed about Costner’s sudden departure, which does not change the end of John Dutton, but shortens it. A 6th season of “Yellowstone” is now definitely off the table. Basically, however, there is no bad blood between Sheridan and Costner, who is currently filming his pet project “Horizon“.
What happens now?
Even without Kevin Costner as John Dutton, Paramount could have continued to produce “Yellowstone”, as the series is one of the studio’s greatest successes. But it is also advantageous for Paramount that Taylor Sheridan can now concentrate on further spin-offs.
Paramount once sold the streaming rights to “Yellowstone” in the USA to Peacock – at a time when the success of the series was not yet foreseeable. As a result, “Yellowstone” is still not available on Paramount+ in the USA, but all of Sheridan’s spin-offs and other series that are not covered by the Peacock deal does not apply.
2024: Planned McConaughey spin-off
The planned series with Matthew McConaughey is to be titled “1924” and continue the story from “Yellowstone” in modern times, so to speak. It is likely that McConaughey’s character will appear as the new owner of the Dutton Ranch and take over the legacy of John Dutton.
Jamie, Bett, Kayce and Rip could therefore be mentioned as supporting characters in the further spin-off “1944“. However, according to Sheridan, he sees the upcoming spin-offs, just like his prequel series, as an independent story. Although Sheridan only has a rough idea of the series so far, a new location and different actors are currently expected.
In addition to the final episodes of “Yellowstone” season 5, season 2 of “1923” and the McConaughey spin-off, we can expect more western series from Sheridan, including another “Yellowstone” spin-off about the Four Sixes Ranch and “Land Man”. So the man at the center of the “Yellowstone” universe won’t be hit too hard by the end of “Yellowstone”.