Breaking: New ‘Yellowstone’ Sequel Series Officially Coming to Paramount Network, Paramount+; Original Series Cancelled
Get ready to ride back into the West, “Yellowstone” fans! In the wake of the news broke that Kevin Costner was officially leaving the flagship show in Taylor Sheridan’s universe, Paramount Global has officially announced that a new, untitled sequel to the series has been officially greenlit. As if this announcement were not big enough, it was accompanied by the news that the original “Yellowstone” will end following the conclusion of Season 5.
It was not immediately clear whether or not the new “Yellowstone” sequel is the same show as the Matthew McConaughey-led series that has been rumored to be in the works following the reports of an ongoing dispute between Costner and Sheridan that is putting the completion of “Yellowstone” Season 5 in doubt.
The spinoff will reportedly keep “Yellowstone” in its name in some way, cementing it as the spiritual and literal successor to the series that launched the Sheridan-verse. It is currently scheduled to be released to Paramount Network beginning this November, and will make its streaming debut on Paramount+ an unspecified amount of time after that. The timeline of this show does raise questions as to how and when it will be filmed, considering that the Writer’s Guild of America is currently on strike, and some anticipate the work stoppage could drag on for months.
“Yellowstone has been the cornerstone on which we have launched an entire universe of global hits - from 1883 to Tulsa King, and I am confident our Yellowstone sequel will be another big hit, thanks to the brilliant creative mind of Taylor Sheridan and our incredible casts who bring these shows to life,” Paramount’s Chris McCarthy said.
The show breaks the mold of other series in the so-called Sheridanverse in that it’s a sequel to “Yellowstone,” not a prequel. Previous spin-offs of the show like “1883” and “1923” have been set long before the events of “Yellowstone.” The series “6666” is set in the modern era, but its premiere date is now in question, partly because the second half of “Yellowstone” Season 5 were intended to serve as a backdoor pilot for the show.
That could help to explain why Paramount is moving straight ahead with this new, as-yet-untitled sequel series. It doesn’t mean that “6666” won’t ever see the light of day, but its fate may be tied to the second half of “Yellowstone’s” current season. That show was supposed to resume filming this spring and air over the summer, but there has been no official word regarding when production will start again, and the Hollywood writers’ strike that started May 1 will quite likely cause further delays.
It’s not clear what effects the strike will have on the new show just announced by Paramount. If the company wants the series to premiere on Paramount Network in November, it is presumably far past the planning stages. But unless all scripts for the first season — or at least its first half, if Paramount decides to release the episodes in two blocs as it did for “Yellowstone” Season 5 — are fully completed, there’s little chance the show can begin filming until the strike ends. Sheridan has famously been known to write all of the scripts for his series on his own at times, so it is possible that he has them finished and can move on to the filming part of production, but even that is dubious.
Debuting the show on Paramount Network initially and then sending it to streaming on Paramount+ allows the company to have its cake and eat it too. The untitled “Yellowstone” sequel will undoubtedly draw big ratings on cable, where advertising money is more lucrative. It will also likely drive large audiences to Paramount+, if the performance of other titles that Sheridan helped to create is any indication. Of all people who watched content on Paramount+ in the second half of 2022, 24% were there to see something Sheridan brought to the screen.
There’s still a ton we don’t know about the newest entrant into the Sheridanverse, but more details will doubtlessly be available soon. In the meantime, “Yellowstone” fans who are saddened by the fact that the show likely won’t continue after Costner’s departure will at least have something to look forward to this fall.
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.