We have all the details about who's in and out—and "at the train station"—on the Dutton family ranch
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Sneak Peek! Here’s What You Need to Know About Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2
Updated on Nov. 01, 2024
The story goes that Taylor Sheridan originally pitched his project about shifting alliances and dirty deeds at the largest modern-day American family cattle ranch as “The Godfather in Montana.” That tantalizing idea morphed into the neo-Western smash series Yellowstone. One of the best series on TV, Yellowstone is also the top-rated cable TV series. Almost 9 million viewers watched its Season 5 finale on the Paramount Network … but that was back in January 2023.
Now, Yellowstone is finally returning with the second half of Season 5 (affectionately called “Season 5B” by fans), not to mention what could very well be the last batch of episodes, period. The new trailer promises—what else?—more wars over money and power, with everyone picking sides. And because this is the treacherous Dutton family, nothing just gets settled through old-fashioned lawsuits.
In fact, not even the family’s patriarch, Kevin Costner’s John Dutton, is immune from danger. True, he appears in the trailer and delivers a threatening warning about reminding people “who runs this valley.” But surely you paid attention to all the Yellowstone behind-the-scenes drama, right?
Before we dive into the evil scheming and double-dealings in picturesque Montana, here’s your up-to-date primer on all things Yellowstone.
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When does Yellowstone Season 5B premiere?
The final episodes will unfold starting Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. EST, and Paramount still hasn’t confirmed how many we’ll see in total. By the way, the nearly two-year gap between the first part of Season 5 and the second is itself an epic tale. The cast and crew originally planned to resume filming in March 2023, with an announced summer premiere date. But those dates came and went. The reported reason? A scheduling dispute with Costner, who was set to direct, write and star in his big-screen, multipart and self-financed Horizon: An American Saga. Then, because of the rare dual Hollywood labor strikes in 2023, Sheridan stopped writing his scripts, and production came to a standstill for months. Filming finally began this past May … and John Dutton was written off.
Who will be in the new episodes?
All the Duttons will be back at the ranch, with one notable exception. So expect to see John’s fiery, business-minded daughter, Beth (Kelly Reilly); his adopted shifty lawyer son, Jamie (Wes Bentley); and Kayce (Luke Grimes), the youngest and most wayward of the three siblings.
Joining them are Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser), John’s right-hand man and Beth’s devoted husband; Native American daughter-in-law and Kayce’s wife, Monica (Kelsey Asbille); John’s one-time girlfriend Lynelle Perry (Wendy Moniz); and longtime adversary Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham). Plus, welcome back the ragtag group of ranch hands: Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith), Ryan (Ian Bohen), Teeter (Jennifer Landon) and Walker (Ryan Bingham). Dawn Olivieri, who plays corporate shark and Jamie’s love interest, Sarah Atwood, joined in Season 5. But Piper Perabo’s Summer Higgins, the animal activist dating John before the midseason break, is MIA from the trailer.
So what’s the status of Costner? In a June 2023 interview, Sheridan said that the actor’s decision to leave the show “truncates the closure of his character,” but added that the character’s fate and the ending of the show had been planned since Yellowstone‘s early days. Costner himself expressed disappointment that producers wouldn’t accommodate his Horizon schedule and confirmed via a June 2024 social media video that he was no longer part of the Yellowstone action. “I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue Season 5B or into the future,” he said. “I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop and I’ll see you at the movies.”
What will the new season be about?
War, of course. But first, a recap: Yellowstone left off (dated spoiler alert) with a battle between fiery rival siblings Beth and Jamie, as both plot each other’s murder. But John—now the governor of Montana—sides with his daughter. In turn, Sarah convinces Jamie to try to impeach his father from office.
In the trailer, the family conflict threatens to boil over. Beth and Rip do reaffirm their commitment to the family legacy, but she also tells him, “I can’t do this anymore.” To which Rip replies, “Well, you’re gonna have to, honey. Or we’re gonna lose this place.” Kayce and Jamie get in a physical altercation. Meanwhile, Sarah issues Jamie a threat and seems to be goading him into doing something. (“Old lions die in the jaws of younger lions, and you are the younger lion.”) Jamie is also seen smashing a door open before a quick cut to Beth pulling out a large knife. And though they’ve teamed up in the past, Rainwater and Kayce now declare themselves “brothers.”
Reilly also revealed on the Yellowstone Season 5 DVD featurette that Beth feels “immense” guilt over the fact that she will never be able to have biological children with Rip because Jamie accidentally had a doctor give her a hysterectomy as a teenager, leaving her infertile. She predicted this storyline “coming home to roost,” though the interview was conducted before it was announced this would be the series’ last season.
One more potential development: Moniz is referred to as “Governor Perry” in first-look photos from Paramount. Given that John was still the governor as of the break, it could mean those impeachment efforts were successful. Or, more ominously, that he’s gone “to the train station”—i.e., the place where the Duttons dump dead bodies.
Will there be a Season 6 of Yellowstone?
Maybe? Hopefully? Deadline reported over the summer that negotiations are underway for a sixth season of the flagship drama, with Reilly and Wheeler as the headliners. But sources stressed at the time that the deals were not done. The Paramount Network hasn’t commented.
Still, with two spinoffs in the works, the Yellowstone-verse is hardly slowing down. The Madison, a present-day story starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Fox, has been described as a sequel taking place after the events of Yellowstone that examines “the study of grief and human connection following a New York City family in the Madison River valley of central Montana.” And the prequel 1944 will follow in the footsteps of previous origin series 1883 and 1923. There’s no official series description yet, but it will be set just 15 years before the birth of John Dutton III, who was born in April 1959.
How can I watch Yellowstone Season 5B?
Each episode of Yellowstone will first air on the Paramount Network. Corporate partner CBS will then broadcast a “special airing” of the episode starting at 10 p.m. EST on the same night. Own a smart TV? Use the live TV streaming service Philo, which includes the Paramount Network in its base package. However, because of a complicated streaming arrangement, the episodes will not be available on the Paramount+ streaming service.
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Sources:
- Hollywood Reporter: “Taylor Sheridan Does Whatever He Wants: ‘I Will Tell My Stories My Way'”
- Variety: “‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 Part 2 Trailer: The End Is Near in Explosive Final Season”
- Hollywood Reporter: “The End of ‘Yellowstone’: What Is Known About the Season 5B Episodes”
- Deadline: “Kevin Costner Makes It Official: He’s Not Returning to ‘Yellowstone'”
- Business Insider: “‘Yellowstone’ star Kelly Reilly says Beth Dutton is ‘certain she will lose’ Rip Wheeler before series ends: ‘There’s a tremendous sadness in that'”
- Deadline: “‘Yellowstone’ Eyes Season 6 with Kelly Reilly & Cole Hauser”
- TV Insider: “Yellowstone’s ‘1944’ Spinoff: Everything We Know About WWII-Era Prequel”
