After over a year hiatus, Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 has begun production in Montana, as earlier promised and then revealed by Paramount Network Monday. The Western drama series approaches its close with the final episodes predicted to land in November later this year.
Four and a half seasons of the Taylor Sheridan series have followed the Dutton Family, led by patriarch Kevin Costner’s John Dutton, who oversees the largest cattle ranch in the modern-day United States. The Dutton family faces constant challenges from those at its borders — the growing Bozeman, Montana, the fictional Indian reservation of Broken Rock and America’s first national park.
With several prequel series and a contemporary spinoff in the works, the original installment was originally set to conclude at the end of 2023, but the WGA and SAG strikes delayed production on the final episodes.
How many episodes will be in Yellowstone Season 5 Part II?
Six episodes are projected to wrap up the original installment, but creator Taylor Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter that he felt Paramount could give him 10 episodes if need be.
Will Kevin Costner return for Yellowstone Season 5 Part II?
Costner helmed the mothership show before he departed about a year ago to ultimately work on Horizon: An American Saga, which just premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. He told Deadline in an interview for the film that he would be open to reprising the patriarch character in the show’s conclusion.
“I think that they should do whatever they want to do,” Costner said. “Am I open to coming back? I’ve never been in a position to tell them what to do. I can only do what I can do.”
Costner has not seen any scripts for the end of the series. He did shed some light on what happened behind the scenes with negotiating a new contract for his role and changes to the show’s arc.
“I haven’t felt good about it the last year, what with the way they’ve talked about it. It wasn’t truthful. So now I’m talking a little bit about what the real truth of it was. I made a contract for seasons five, six and seven,” he told Deadline. “In February, after a two- or three-month negotiation, they made another contract. They wanted to redo that one, and instead of seasons six and seven, it was 5A and 5B, and maybe we’ll do six. They weren’t able to make those. Horizon was set in the middle, but Yellowstone was first position. I fit [Horizon] into the gaps. They just kept moving their gaps.”
