A Year Without ‘Yellowstone’

For fans of Taylor Sheridan’s hit Western drama Yellowstone, January 1, 2024, wasn’t simply the start of another fresh 365-day slate. The first day of the new year also marked the anniversary of Yellowstone‘s Season 5, Part 1 finale, which means we’ve officially gone 12 whole months without the Duttons. Woah there, cowboy!

Like so many other shows, 2023’s WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes contributed in some part to Yellowstone‘s delay in filming. But unlike other shows, Sheridan’s wildly successful series had a lot of off-camera developments — from cast feuds and lawsuits to spin-off deals and more — playing out in the background of its unexpected year-long hiatus. And with Season 5 finally set to return in November 2024, fans will have endured a nearly two-year gap by the time Part 2 premieres. (And that’s assuming that nothing else derails production, which is set to resume in Spring 2024.)

As a refresher (because, again, it’s been A YEAR!) when Yellowstone Season 5, Episode 8, “A Knife And No Coin” aired at the start of 2023, fans saw John Dutton (Kevin Costner) struggling with the ranch, his family, and his new role as Montana’s governor. Rip (Cole Hauser) and half of the ranch hands — including Teeter (Jennifer Landon) were tasked with moving a herd to Texas. Kayce (Luke Grimes) and Monica (Kelsey Asbille) were planning to look after the ranch. And after Jamie (Wes Bentley) set out to impeach John (aka Daddy), he and Beth (Kelly Reilly) embarked on a full-on (potentially deadly!) war. Fans of the popular Paramount Network series were initially promised six new episodes by Summer 2023, but the seasons came and went without so much of a glimpse at the Dutton saga’s highly-anticipated next chapter.

Instead, we got explosive reports of bad blood between Sheridan and Yellowstone star and executive producer Costner. Rumors related to Costner’s scheduling conflicts bubbled for a bit before larger, more damning narratives about Sheridan’s “God complex” and ego took the spotlight. In May, fans learned that Costner would be leaving the Yellowstone franchise after Season 5, which will also serve as the final season in the series. Then subsequent reports suggested Costner wouldn’t return until he approved of how his character John Dutton would be written off. In June, Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter that he was “disappointed” by Costner’s exit, which “truncates” his character arc. But for those concerned about Dutton’s farewell within the series, the Yellowstone creator assured fans, “I don’t do fuck-you car crashes… Whether [Dutton’s fate] inflates [Costner’s] ego or insults is collateral damage that I don’t factor in with regard to storytelling.”

When speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Sheridan opened up about the feud some more, saying, “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 and start saying things that aren’t true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting.” Per People, when asked if he will be receiving his salary for the second half of Season 5, Costner detailed the struggles he experienced when negotiating Season 5 and replied, “I will probably go to court over it.”

Speaking of court and feuds with Taylor Sheridan, in the year since Yellowstone‘s midseason finale aired, the creator also found himself in the middle of a legal battle with series star Cole Hauser, who plays Rip. On November 21, Sheridan, owner of Bosque Ranch (which created a coffee brand in June), filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against Hauser’s Free Rein Coffee Company alleging the logo was too similar to Bosque Ranch’s and accusing Free Rein of “unfair competition and false advertising.”

Personal and professional beefs aside, Sheridan continued to find success in the industry as four other series — Yellowstone prequel 1923, Mayor of Kingstown, Special Ops: Lioness, and Lawmen: Bass Reevees — aired episodes during Yellowstone‘s 2023 pause, and a fifth, Tulsa King, wrapped its first season on January 8, 2023. Though Yellowstone was off the air, the series remained a prevalent pillar in 2023 pop culture, with Vrbo listing Twilight Moon Ranch (seen in Season 3 of the series) for rent, a Season 1 episode making a cameo in Barry‘s final season, a Dutton-themed cookbook dropping, Season 5 finally landing on Peacock, CBS airing reruns in fall, and The Kardashians revealing that Kris Jenner made Corey Gamble turn down his very own Yellowstone role. The surest sign that Yellowstone will live on long past its conclusion and the departure of Costner? The planned franchise expansion, which includes two forthcoming spinoffs, currently titled 1944 and 2024.

“Within five years, we grew Yellowstone from a hit U.S. cable show with five million viewers into a global hit franchise with over 100 million fans around the world and multiple extensions — and, we’re just getting started,” President/CEO of Showtime & MTV Entertainment Studios Chris McCarthy said in a statement. “On the heels of 1883 and 1923’s success, our new planned spinoffs, 1944 and 2024, will take audiences on a thrilling, new and unexpected journey with the complex and compelling storytelling that has become a hallmark of the franchise and has helped turn it into a worldwide cultural phenomenon — thanks to the creative mastermind of Taylor Sheridan.”

Though specific spinoff details remain unknown, 2024 is expected to begin airing on Paramount Network in December 2024, post-Yellowstone, and will reportedly feature “new cast members and locations with some crossover characters as well.” As Decider noted in a previous piece, 2024 will most likely be the spinoff that could potentially star Matthew McConaughey, who said the idea of returning to acting after his recent break “sounds like a vacation.”

After a year without Yellowstone, fans still don’t know who wins the Dutton war; if Beth and Rip can make long-distance work; if John Dutton is removed from office; or if the series will go full Succession, unexpectedly kill the patriarch, and leave his three kids to scramble for closure over the phone. But as it currently stands, we do know that answers will start trickling in if Season 5 actually returns in November 2024, and that Season 5, Part 2 — the end of Yellowstone as we know it — took a whole lot of work, behind-the-scenes conflict, talent, and coordination to pull off.

As we gear up to wait nearly another full Yellowstone-free year, you need more Dutton drama in your life, all five seasons of the series are streaming on Peacock, with episodes currently airing Sunday nights on CBS for any rewatch needs. Yellowstone prequels 1883 and 1923 are also available on Paramount+.