Yellowstone might be coming to an end, but the drama surrounding lead star Kevin Costner and showrunner Taylor Sheridan shows no signs of slowing down.
Costner has played ranch owner John Dutton on the hit US series since it premiered in 2018. While Sheridan’s drama about American ranchers and land developers in rural Montana has divided critics, it has become one of the most successful shows on television in recent years.
However, the series was shaken in February last year by Costner’s bombshell decision to walk away from the series with several seasons to go. This led creator Sheridan to call time on the show far earlier than initially planned.
The final episodes of Yellowstone season five – and the show as a whole – are set to arrive this November.
Costner reignited the reported feud between the two at Cannes Film Festival this year following the premiere of his new Western, Horizon: An American Saga. Speaking to journalists, Costner slyly suggested that Sheridan may have borrowed elements of his film for the Yellowstone spin-off 1883.
Below, we run through a timeline of the history of Yellowstone, an unlikely success story whose legacy has been undermined by behind-the-scenes tensions.
20 June 2018:Yellowstone, starring Kevin Costner, debuts in the US on Paramount cable channel, the Paramount Network. It becomes one of the most-watched shows in the country. Creator Taylor Sheridan said of the show’s success to The Hollywood Reporter: “People couldn’t understand how a linear cable channel that no one can even find suddenly had the biggest show on television. Because it has cowboys and this is supposed to be a dead genre, right? Of course, that’s not what the show is really about, that’s just the sugar on the pill.”
February 2021: Sheridan signs a lucrative five-year deal with ViacomCBS and MTV Entertainment Group to create new projects, including Yellowstone spin-offs.
December 2021: Paramount Network releases Yellowstone prequel series 1883, starring Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Sam Elliott. It achieves the biggest debut for a cable show in more than six years, and helps launch the networks’ streaming service, Paramount+. However, with Sheridan busy on the spin-off, Yellowstone season five is delayed.
