Back to the ranch. The Yellowstone universe keeps expanding, and the franchise’s flagship series is no exception — Paramount renewed the show for a fifth season in February 2022.
Starring Kevin Costner, Kelly Reilly and Wes Bentley, the drama series premiered on the Paramount Network in June 2018. The modern western has since become a phenomenon, inspiring multiple spinoffs and racking up nominations at various awards shows.
In 2021, Yellowstone was one of the most-watched cable shows of the year, with more than 11 million viewers tuning in for the season four finale. Costner has been famous since the 1980s, but Yellowstone has helped him reach a whole new audience.
“If I’m out, within an hour, somebody is going to talk about it,” the Oscar winner told Entertainment Tonight in an interview published in March 2022.
“You kind of hope that happens a little bit and it has. I think it’s what happens when you have great dialogue and you put it against mountains and rivers and running horses. I think there’s a little gold dust on it.”
The show follows the exploits of the Dutton family, who own the largest ranch in Montana. Costner plays family patriarch John Dutton, while Reilly stars as his daughter, Bethany, and Bentley appears as his son Jamie.
The ensemble cast also includes Luke Grimes, Gil Birmingham, Danny Huston, Cole Hauser and Kelsey Asbille.
When season 4 ended, the ranch had weathered a militia attack led by Jamie’s biological father, Garrett Randall (Will Patton). Beth married Rip Wheeler (Hauser) after tipping a journalist off to the fact that Market Equities planned to squash a protest with help from the National Guard. Jamie killed Garrett and Beth plans to use this as blackmail in the future.
The cast has said they don’t know what’s going to happen until they get the scripts, but Reilly thinks her character is planning revenge in season 5.
“Beth has decided she cannot rest until she gets justice,” the actress said in a promotional video for the show. “She wants blood. It’s really kind of intense.”
While fans wait for the next instalment, there’s plenty of other Yellowstone content to go around. A prequel series titled 1883 premiered in December 2021, starring Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Sam Elliott.
Yellowstone cocreator Taylor Sheridan confirmed in February 2022 that 1883 was conceived as a one-season limited series, but a sequel titled 1932 is also in development.
Another spinoff titled 6666 was announced in 2021. That series will debut on Paramount+ and will be set at the real-life Four Sixes Ranch in Guthrie, Texas. In May 2021, a group led by Sheridan purchased the property for $200 million. Portions of season 4 were filmed at the ranch, which was established in 1900.
Keep scrolling for everything to know so far about Yellowstone season 5:
Who’s Coming Back?
No official announcements have been made, but it seems likely that Costner, Reilly, Grimes, Bentley, Birmingham, Hauser and Asbille will all be back.
Who’s New to the Cast?
No new cast members had been announced as of March 2022, but two recurring actors were promoted to series regulars: Jefferson White, who plays Jimmy Hurdstrom, and Kathryn Kelly, who stars as Jimmy’s fiancée, Emily. Jen Landon, who appears as Teeter, also got a promotion to series regular.
When Does It Premiere?
No premiere date has been announced, but Paramount confirmed that season 5 will premiere in two parts that each consisting of seven episodes. That’s a four-episode upgrade from the show’s standard 10-episode seasons.
What’s Going to Happen?
“I got a new horse. How’s that?” Costner joked to ET in an interview published in March 2022. Other than that, the cast doesn’t know much. Kayce (Grimes) will likely have to make a decision about where he fits in with his family amid his marriage to Monica (Asbille). The dynamic between Jamie and Beth also seems poised to continue causing problems, especially now that the former is a murderer and the latter knows it.
