Will There Be a 'Yellowstone' Season 6?
John Dutton’s long reign has reached a dramatic end. After Yellowstone star Kevin Costner announced he was finished with the role, it was only a matter of time before creator Taylor Sheridan’s flagship series could no longer continue without him. On December 15, 2024, Yellowstone will air its season 5 finale—and what that means for a potential season 6 is finally coming into focus.
The supremely popular western had already aired the first half of its fifth season back in 2022, but the second half didn’t arrive on screens until 2024, thanks to a remarkable confluence of actor-network-creator tensions and the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. When Paramount Network at last announced the farewell episodes would arrive in November and December 2024, Costner quickly revealed (via Instagram Reel) that he wouldn’t be participating in them.
Costner’s exit (and, thus, John Dutton’s demise) has had enormous implications for the remaining Yellowstone storylines; it’s encouraged the creation of multiple spin-offs and the reported dashing of hopes for season 6. As such, here’s everything we know so far about the franchise’s future.
Will there be a Yellowstone season 6?
The short answer is: Probably not. The long answer is: Sort of, but not by name.
The end of Costner’s run on Yellowstone will not necessarily mean the end of Yellowstone as a story, but likely the end of the its namesake show. The Paramount property is a ratings behemoth, having helped Sheridan craft not just an individual hit but an entire franchise around his name. Such success will seemingly allow him to end Yellowstone with season 5 and branch off into further spin-offs, such as the Michelle Pfeiffer-led The Madison (previously named 2024) and a new spin-off starring fan-favorites Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser, who play Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler in the original series.
However, Paramount has yet to officially confirm Yellowstone will conclude with its season 5 finale, and a source told Deadline that “doing another season was not completely out of the question.”
That said, it’s best not get your hopes up: All signs point to the Dutton Ranch saga continuing not in Yellowstone itself but in the Reilly-Hauser spin-off, which—per Deadline—will be the first of Sheridan’s ancillary shows to include “Yellowstone” in its as-yet-unannounced title.
Who will replace Kevin Costner in the Yellowstone universe?
Costner will not be replaced, in the sense that no other actor will step into the role of John Dutton III after the character met his fate in the Yellowstone season 5, part 2 premiere. But, as Deadline reported in February, the franchise’s “extension”s will indeed feature different lead actors, such as Pfeiffer, Reilly, and Hauser.
Are the rest of the cast leaving the Yellowstone universe after the season 5 finale?
Costner’s drama with Paramount, thankfully, does not seem to have extended to his cast-mates. The absence of a season 6 doesn’t mean other beloved Yellowstone characters will disappear from screens altogether. The Reilly-Hauser spin-off will, of course, feature Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler, but Deadline reports other stars might also make an appearance. That means actors including Luke Grimes, Kelsey Asbille, Gil Birmingham, and Wes Bentley might appear not in a season 6 but in a branching continuation of the same story. “Led by Yellowstone characters played by the same actors in the same present-day time frame, the new [Reilly and Hauser-led] offshoot shares the most DNA with the mothership of any shows in the Yellowstone universe to date,” wrote Deadline reporter Nelly Andreeva on December 11, 2024. It sounds, then, like the Duttons’s future is indeed secured.
You Might Also Like
