Yellowstone may not be ending with season five after all. According to Deadline, negotiations are underway for a sixth season of Paramount Network’s flagship series, with Kelly Reilly (Pride & Prejudice, Eden Lake) and Cole Hauser (2 Fast 2 Furious, Dazed and Confused) taking Kevin Costner’s (Horizon: An American Saga, Dances with Wolves) spot as leads.
In 2023, Yellowstone‘s fifth season went on hiatus and was split into two parts due to Costner’s ongoing conflict with the series’ showrunner, Taylor Sheridan (1883, Wind River). The two had been at odds over Costner’s scheduling and salary until this June when Costner officially announced his departure from the series. Paramount set out to finish the back half of season five without Costner, announcing in June that the series would return on November 10 with the final installment of the series.
However, Sheridan and other bosses may now be reconsidering the future of Yellowstone. Deadline’s sources say that the series may continue past season five. If negotiations are successful, the next season will move its focus away from Costner’s John Dutton and instead follow his daughter Beth Dutton, played by Reilly, and ranch foreman Rip Wheeler, played by Hauser.
According to Deadline, it was previously rumored that Reilly and Hauser were negotiating deals to make appearances on the neo-Western’s first spinoff, The Madison, starring Michelle Pfeiffer (Scarface, Batman Returns), but it has never been confirmed. Hauser himself has teased the possibility of another Yellowstone spinoff focused on Beth and Rip’s relationship. However, it remains to be seen if what he was referring to has ended up becoming the rumored sixth season.
Yellowstone was co-created by Sheridan and John Linson (The Outsider, The Comedian) and premiered on Paramount Network in 2018. Over the course of five seasons, the show has told the story of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, the largest contiguous cattle ranch in the United States, and the conflicts along its shared border with the Broken Rock Indian reservation, the Yellowstone National Park and neighboring land developers.
All episodes of Yellowstone are available on Peacock, with the final episodes of season five still set to premiere on November 10.