‘Yellowstone’ Reportedly Ending After Season 5; Franchise to Continue with Matthew McConaughey, but Not on Peacock
John Dutton might be riding off into the sunset a lot sooner than many fans expected. According to an exclusive report from Deadline, “Yellowstone” is likely coming to an end after its current season concludes on the Paramount Network.
The surprising announcement comes thanks to disagreements between star Kevin Costner and the show’s executives regarding his shooting schedule. According to Deadline, Costner wanted to shoot all of his scenes for the second half of Season 5 over the course of one week, which has caused friction between him and series co-creator Taylor Sheridan, as well as his fellow cast members.
That has led to Sheridan and Paramount Global deciding to move on from the show. The plan — as it currently stands — is for the franchise to continue with a new series centering on the Dutton family, this time with Matthew McConaughey in the lead role.
Judging from Paramount’s reaction to Deadline’s report, it appears the publication caught the media corporation off-guard by releasing the news.
“We have no news to report,” a Paramount Network spokesperson told Deadline. “Kevin Costner is a big part of ‘Yellowstone’ and we hope that’s the case for a long time to come. Thanks to the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan, we are always working on franchise expansions of this incredible world he has built. Matthew McConaughey is a phenomenal talent with whom we’d love to partner.”
That “all-is-well” notification from the company is hardly a stringent denial, though it could be a leverage move to get Costner to play ball. It could also be completely true, and an official announcement from Paramount may follow in the next few days.
If the company is serious about ending “Yellowstone,” it would offer Paramount a chance to correct one of its most serious blunders of the decade, one which company execs have vowed never to repeat. Paramount licensed the streaming rights to “Yellowstone” to NBCUniversal in 2020, and NBCU’s streaming platform Peacock is the show’s current on-demand home. Paramount still gets to collect a licensing fee from Peacock, but it loses out on millions in potential subscriber dollars by having its most popular show stream somewhere besides Paramount+.
A new series featuring the Duttons would undoubtedly stream on Paramount’s flagship service, whether it replaces “Yellowstone” on the Paramount Newtork or is a streaming exclusive. No matter where the show first airs, any future series set in the Sheridan-verse will join “1883” and “1923” on Paramount+.
It seems as though Paramount is willing to rely more and more heavily on its most-established franchises to attract new streaming customers these days. The company recently announced it would be using its premium linear network Showtime as a home for new spinoffs of “Dexter” and “Billions,” ahead of the merger of Paramount+ and the SHOWTIME on-demand platform.
Whether fans are as quick to adopt the reported new series as they have been with “1883” and “1923” remains to be seen, but one fact about the show is apparent before it’s even been written: if it’s ever eventually released, it will stream on Paramount+ and nowhere else.
Paramount Plus
Paramount+ is a subscription video streaming service that includes on-demand access to 40,000+ TV show episodes from BET, CBS, Comedy Central, MTV, Nickelodeon, Nick Jr. and more. The lineup includes “1883,” “Tulsa King,” “Star Trek: Discovery,” Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob SquarePants,” and “PAW Patrol.” Subscribers can watch the NFL, college football, The Masters, college basketball, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa, Serie A, and NWSL. The service also offers the option to watch your live CBS affiliate. The upgraded ad-free package includes premium movies and shows from Showtime.