A father and son facing off for control of the family legacy. A damaged daughter
willing to destroy a brother for her father's sake. Where are Yellowstone's
Shakespearean-scale characters headed in Season 5?
Opening the season with a two-hour event, Yellowstone Season 5 is set to premiere
on November 15, 2022. Paramount has been on a roll lately with Yellowstone-adjacent content,
as the network has greenlit multiple Taylor Sheridan-helmed spinoff series,
including 1883, 1923, and 6666 proving that they're all in on Yellowstone.
Recently, series executive producer David C. Glasser caught up with Hello!
magazine to promote the next season, saying that,
"Episode one will immediately surprise everybody – where our story starts and what has happened."
It sounds like he's implying a series time jump in the Yellowstone narrative,
or some other major event to kick off the next season. While we're hard pressed
to figure out how you could start a new season with more intensity than Season 4,
there's no doubt that Sheridan and company will deliver — and it will be explosive.
The next installment of the Dutton family saga arrives just in time for Thanksgiving,
something to make fans genuinely thankful.
The central cast members of Yellowstone are expected to return for Season 5. This
includes Kevin Costner as Dutton family patriarch John, Kelly Reilly as Beth,
Cole Hauser as Rip, Wes Bentley as Jamie, Luke Grimes as Kayce, and Kelsey Asbille
as Monica. Not to mention Jefferson White as Jimmy and a host of others from the bunkhouse.
When Season 4 ended, Kayce was immersed in a Native American ritual that cut him
off from the world, only to have a spiritual revelation of his own.
"I saw the end of us."
There's plenty of speculation as to what Kayce meant. With luck,
we'll learn the answer in the season premiere.
The fifth season is guaranteed to bring a new sheriff to town following the death of
Donnie Haskell, played by Hugh Dillon. It's possible that an existing character will step
into the role. Matthew Jones, introduced as the sheriff's deputy in Season 4, is a possibility.
Sadly, Will Patton, who played Jamie's biological father Garrett Randle, won't be returning,
since Jamie killed him in the Season 4 finale. However, Katherine Cunningham,
who plays Christina, is likely to return since she and Jamie have a child together.
How will that play out now that Beth has Jamie under her thumb? We'll have to wait and see!
It's unclear what the central storyline of Season
5 will be. During a HALL Wines Happy Hour interview, Cole Hauser hinted,
"The way Season 4 ends, the audience ... will be happily surprised with a lot of things."
"Who presents the bride?"
"Me. I'm her father."
Between the marriage of Rip and Beth, Kayce's revelation, and the "understanding"
between Beth and Jamie, the next season of Yellowstone promises to cover new territory.
The biggest question heading into Season 5 concerns the race for governor, which has
John and Jamie pitted against each other. John now "owns" Jamie and is threatening his job prospects,
leaving plenty of fans to feel sorry for the way Jamie has been treated. Perhaps John will
reassess their relationship after notifying the sheriff's daughter that her father is dead,
and recognizing that Beth could easily have killed his adopted son.
"Did I lose a son today?"
"He was never your son, Daddy."
Hopefully, John and Jamie will reconcile.
Kayce's arc will also be a crucial part of Season 5. His decision to undergo the
warrior initiation rite is sure to earn the respect of Monica's family. It will
undoubtedly affect his view of the world. There's been speculation that Kayce may cross
over to the side of the Broken Rock Indian Reservation. That would destroy his father.
So far, every season of Yellowstone — excluding the first with its 90-minute series premiere — has
featured 10 one-hour episodes. Next season, however, will be split into two halves
with 7 episodes each. The longer 14-episode fifth season is good news for patient fans.
"You want me to drive?" "I drive."
The fifth season is expected to help launch several new shows for Paramount's in-house
streamer Paramount+, beyond Taylor Sheridan's two sophomore series, 1883 and Mayor of Kingstown.
Among these are the Prohibition-era 1923 and the Sylvester Stallone-led Tulsa King. Whether
these shows will connect to the greater Yellowstone story has yet to be revealed.
With an extended fifth season, and a 10.4 million viewership average on the Paramount Network,
Yellowstone shows no signs of slowing down. By far the most profitable and
beloved show on the network, Yellowstone and its prequels and spinoffs are high
priorities for the network, meaning we'll likely see more in the future.
In May 2022, Paramount announced that production on Season 5 of Yellowstone had begun in Montana.
Though the series is largely set in Paradise Valley and Bozeman, it hasn't always filmed there.
When Yellowstone premiered, the series was primarily filmed in Park City, Utah,
southeast of Salt Lake City. The series traveled all across the Beehive State
to capture the picturesque Western landscape. However, since day one,
the Chief Joseph Ranch in Darby, Montana has served as the infamous Yellowstone-Dutton Ranch,
and most likely will until the series comes to a close. A family-owned ranch,
the Chief Joseph was well-known throughout Montana long before TV came calling.
After the third season, Yellowstone moved production from Utah to the film-friendly
state of Montana, hoping to honestly brand the show as a "Made in Montana" production.
Season 5 continued the tradition, filming in and around the Missoula area in the western part of
the state. The story takes place primarily in Gallatin and Park Counties, but Yellowstone
rarely films there, opting instead to keep production to the western end of the state.
While there is no official trailer for Season 5 of Yellowstone just yet,
there is a new 15 second teaser that claims that:
"All will be revealed?" Tell us more. What needs revealing? The election results:
John or Jamie? Kayce's new vision quest-enhanced world view?
"What do you see?"
"Two paths."
Or is it something else entirely?
From what we can see in the teaser, which isn't much, Kayce seems distraught. He puts his head in
his hands as he sinks onto his front porch. Could this be the start of conflict between
Kayce and Monica? Or, more likely, between his family and the rest of the Duttons?
Next we see Rip saddle up with a scoped rifle. There's real trouble brewing. Whether it's human
or animal-related is up for debate, but one thing is clear: Rip aims to teach someone a lesson.
"If you need something taken care of, you tell me, and I'll take care of it."
The final teased moment shows John Dutton walking down a hallway looking
all respectable. No doubt this involves his gubernatorial campaign. He's most likely
on his way to give a speech but what kind? Victory or concession? All will be revealed…
If you've never watched a single episode but want to catch up or you want to revisit the
series' best moments before the season premiere, Yellowstone is available to stream. Currently,
all four seasons can be found on Peacock with the premium option.
If Season 4 taught us anything, it's that paying attention to small details
in earlier seasons will be rewarded. Kayce's vision of his dead brother,
Lee, came as a surprise at the end of the last season.
Attentive fans remember that the eldest Dutton son was killed in battle in the
series' opening episode. Sheridan's playing the storytelling long game. Of course,
those who have no interest in bingeing the first four seasons can find recaps on the
Yellowstone YouTube page, all in under 20 minutes.
If you're curious about some of the characters from the Season 4 flashbacks, or if you're
interested in the Yellowstone universe beyond the flagship show, the prequel series 1883 can
be streamed in its entirety on Paramount+. The Yellowstone origin story follows the Dutton
family from Fort Worth, Texas across the great plains as they journey to what would eventually
be known as Paradise Valley, Montana. If you love classic westerns, then this one's for you.
Since its premiere in 2018, Yellowstone has
taken the country — and especially the Paramount Network — by storm.
"I feel different here. My skin tingles. Never felt like this before."
Because of its high production values, stellar cast, and raging popularity,
the Paramount Network runs frequent Yellowstone marathons. No doubt
they'll run another ahead of the Season 5 premiere.
Marathons increase interest and excitement leading up to the return of a popular program, and some
of the greatest TV shows in history have done the same in preparation for a new season — especially
if it can secure more consistent viewership for their networks going forward.
For those interested in bingeing all of Yellowstone with commercials,
simply search online for information about the next big scheduled marathon,
like the one the network ran over Labor Day weekend. Of course,
you could easily binge the past four seasons on Peacock, but where's the challenge in that?
It's entirely possible that Taylor Sheridan could end the Yellowstone saga with the fifth season,
especially since he has a half-dozen other Paramount projects in the making. It seems
unlikely, though, that the network would want to fold on this modern western just yet.
Many episodes throughout Season 4 felt like backdoor pilots for other series,
which generated huge criticism, even from longtime fans of the show. Jimmy's time down
at the Four-Sixes Ranch in Texas was no doubt a way to explore the world of 6666 long before
the show's premiere. And the flashbacks to the late 1800s Dutton family — led by
Tim McGraw and Faith Hill — were an obvious precursor to 1883. It seems that Sheridan
is doing everything he can to expand his Yellowstone empire before it loses steam.
"You are the trailer park. I am the tornado."
It's unclear where the story of the Dutton family can still go. If they
aren't going to give up their land to developers, natives, or the government,
then who else is there left to fight? And if Kayce and his family really are
done with the Yellowstone for good, then who is John Dutton actually fighting for?
If Yellowstone has taught us anything, it's that one day it will all be gone — the Duttons,
their legacy, and possibly their open land. Though we hope Yellowstone sticks around
a while longer, everything eventually comes to an end.