Have You ever seen the show Yellowstone, if so then you might recognize John Denton AKA Kevin Costner from the movies. Many fans enjoyed his performance in the TV show and wanted to watch him till the end. And fans were thrilled after they saw the first part of Season 5 of the show and now are excited to see the second part of the season. But is Yellowstone Ending after Season 5?
Kevin’s nature makes him an excellent actor, producer, and film director. He’s been playing the part of John Dutton and Yellowstone since 2018. However, reports are circulating in the media that Kevin Costner will be leaving Yellowstone in Season 5. But why is that?
His fans are concerned, thinking it could be his health. But don’t worry, stick around to get every detail about if Kevin is leaving Yellowstone and also some of the latest speculations of Yellowstone Season 5 being the last season.
Is Yellowstone Ending After Season 5?
We’ll be discussing a shocking report, claiming that Yellowstone may be coming to an end with its Season 5 finale. There’s a lot of stuff to unpack and break down here, but first I should say that we have to take all of this information with a pinch of salt. This report’s source is usually pretty reliable regarding their reporting, especially with their news on Paramount shows, but we all know how this industry works.
Some of this information could have been leaked by executives looking to gain the upper hand in negotiations, and they may have exaggerated the extent of the problem to this journalist. That said, in my personal opinion, this article passes the smell test. So what does it say exactly?
Well, the main problem seems to be Kevin Costner’s busy schedule. He announced a while ago that he would write, direct, and star in his own Western saga. A multi-part film series titled Horizon, and with that project at the back of his mind, Kevin apparently wanted to shoot for 50 days for the first part of Season 5 instead of the 65 days the production team had originally planned.
That is a reasonable adjustment, and it’s certainly something your general passed for a massive name like Costner, right? That might be true, but Costner reportedly wants to spend only one week on set for the second part of season five, which consists of six episodes. That is just impossible to accommodate without a major reshuffling, which is what Taylor Sheridan and Paramount are planning to do.
Focusing On New Spinoffs
They feel more confident about being able to leave Yellowstone behind now, and the reason for that is simple. Spinoffs like 1883 and 1923 have been wildly successful. So Yellowstone might be coming to an end with the Season 5 finale, with Costner’s John Dunn character getting a conclusion.
However, this would not be the end for most of the other characters on the show, as they would branch off to a new present-day series headlined by Matthew McConaughey. It sounds like this wasn’t the ending Sheridan had in mind for Yellowstone and the only major departure from the universe would be John Dutton if it comes to that.
We got the record response from a Paramount spokesperson telling us that they have no updates to report. Costner is definitely a big part of the Yellowstone show and they hope that they can continue this partnership. Then the spokesperson went on to thank the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan, and that they are always trying to expand the franchise/universe. The spokesperson also talked about Matthew McConaughey and partnering with him in the future project.
This is definitely one of those “we can neither confirm nor deny” statements. They keep their options open without revealing anything, but they don’t say that Costner will be there until Sheridan is ready to end the show. They say they hope Costner will be working with them for a while.
So to me, that kind of confirms that there’s something going on behind the scenes and that Matthew McConaughey’s quote is really interesting too. They say they love to partner with him. And McConaughey will get his own series in this universe whether Costner stays or leaves.
The report also claims that these are just talks and that there are solid negotiations taking place and plans being hatched. And now I’d like to point something out that the report doesn’t mention.
Another Reason Why Yellowstone Is Ending After Season 5
Yellowstone streaming rights in the US belong to Peacock, which is NBC Universal’s Platform. They make this deal back when the show first began. I think back then, Paramount’s platform was called CBS All Access, or maybe they didn’t have a platform at all. So Paramount was constantly signing streaming deals with other platforms for their show streaming rights, they were just handing them off.
And Yellowstone is the one that got away in terms of streaming. This is their flagship show, but they can’t stream it on their platform. But if this new spinoff comes to life led by a new star, they could put their flagship show on their own streaming platform, Paramount Plus.
Losing Costner will surely hurt this new show’s viewership figures, especially when compared to Yellowstone. But I don’t think it would have a massive problem attracting viewers. People would still tune in to watch Rip, Bath, and Casey. And I have no doubt that McConaughey would kill it in this universe with a well-written character.
The shows add revenue on the Paramount network might drop, but maybe that’s a price they’re willing to pay. Or they have to pay to be more precise. Because if Costner’s on set for only a week, they have no choice but to end Yellowstone.
And even though I’ve been enjoying this season more than the previous two, I have to say that it makes sense to conclude the John Dutton stories soon. Because his relationship with his son Jamie has finally come to a head, not resolving this conflict and going around in circles, which is what the show has been doing, isn’t ideal either. So Costner’s unavailability might be a blessing in disguise.
So when I look at this financially for Paramount, and from a dramatic point of view for Sheridon, it kind of makes sense. And sure it’s not ideal, but I love watching Coster in this role and I’m sure that Sheridan is disappointed if these rumors are indeed true. But it’s certainly not the end of the world for the Yellowstone franchise.
We Can Get A Young John Dutton Show Instead
I’m also hoping that this John Dutton-shaped hole on our TV schedule is filled by a prequel series starring Josh Lucas as the young John Dutton. Lucas has appeared in some flashbacks on Yellowstone as the young John and he’s been doing an incredible job.
In one of the interviews, Lucas said that he would be ready for a project like this if Sheridan ever did. So I hope that this actually materializes. Whether or not Costner leaves.
Talking of prequels, I somehow missed this back in October 2022, news was leaked about two other Yellowstone prequels, one taking place in the 40s and another one in the 60s. So those are in the works. The 1923 Season 2 has recently been confirmed too. So I’m happy about all those because I like these prequels more than the recent seasons of Yellowstone.
Yellowstone Season 5 Part 1 Ending Explained
Ok, now that we have talked about the reasons why Yellowstone would end after Season 5, let’s talk about Yellowstone Season 5 Part 1 Ending. Because by trying to figure out where John Dutton’s character might be going, we would have a better understanding of the future of this show.
Yellowstone Season 5 returned with it following on from it looking as though tensions were really high with the Duttons. With Jamie breaking his loyalty to the family and looking to get John Dutton impeached as governor, Rip going off to Texas and Casey looking set to take over the ranch, the rivalry that was formerly in place between Jamie and Beth is set to turn into an all-out battle. As it seems as though only one of them is going to survive.
Yellowstone Season 5 Part 1 Ending
As Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 8 started, we picked back up from the flashback that we saw in Episode 7 where Rip killed somebody in order to protect Beth. This opening flashback would become important to this episode for a number of different reasons.
This was all about loyalty to Beth, the ranch, and John Dutton, something we saw Rip have when he was younger. And something we saw Jamie have the complete opposite of in this episode in the present day where he announced that John Dutton should be impeached for the way that he’s behaved since he became governor of the state of Montana. And the fact that he started to extinguish tourism, which is the state’s biggest moneymaker.
Within the flashback, we also saw it at the location in which the body was disposed off, which was something that was brought up all of those years later by Jamie as a way of defending himself against Beth when she said that she’d print the photos of him disposing of his father’s body. This showed that he isn’t going to go down easy as John can also be held accountable for many bad things as well.
Loyalty to John was a key thing in this episode. With Casey being loyal and running the ranch while Rip was gone, Beth did not go to Texas in order to stand by her father, and also Rip left his family for a while in order to deal with the cattle.
As we approach the final part of the episode, we saw that Beth approaches Jamie and warned him that things have only just gotten started between them. Jamie believed that Beth and John would go after him and he’d end up being killed.
So instead of going on the defense and getting security, it looked as though he was also going to go on the offense and aimed to take out Beth and also John. Both Beth and Jamie are going for each other and I do firmly believe that only one will survive.
Now, let’s break the rest of the article down by the ending for the characters.
John Dutton
Once John was the main talking point throughout the episode, we didn’t see him have tons of screen time that were extremely important. We saw him speaking with Monica in offering her a house in exchange for Casey to work on the ranch whilst Rip was in Texas.
We saw him stand by rainwater, which I thought was good of him. Even though it was in order to slow down the progression and mean that it wouldn’t eventually go through his land. And we also saw him dealing with the repercussions of Jaime taking the stand and announcing for a Tribunal or should be put in place in order to get him impeached.
With John’s secret getting out to Beth about all of the people that have been killed, tying into what John said in the flashback about fighting for the people of the ranch or the ranch itself, she wasn’t too fazed by it once he explained things.
But it now seems as though John could authorize and be on the side of getting Jamie dealt with that way. John is stuck in the past, and it’s clear to see he’s so set on preserving the ranch rather than developing it. It’s barely making money, and he’s turning down opportunities to make money from the land.
But he’s so set on passing it down as it is, even if it means that it’s not profitable. So I’m trying to see where his arc is going to go. Especially with it seeming as though Jaime is going to try and have him taken out in two different aspects.
Jamie
Jamie has well and truly come to his own, well Sarah’s own. It’s taken her to bring out his true intentions. He’s the villain of the show and even when he walked in, the score that was behind him was villainess and something you’d imagine being behind a villain in the movie as they entered.
He’s double-crossed his family and is looking for John to be removed from office due to his wanting to hold the position. I do also believe that Jamie believes that John’s bad for the ranch and the state as all he does is put his own visions first and they’re very outdated.
Sarah has her own intentions and I don’t think she does truly care about Jamie like she’s making out. And I think she’ll be at the heart of his demise. Because I feel like he will be the person who ends up being harmed and even if he doesn’t die, he’ll be left on his own.
Jamie has expressed his interest in taking out his father and his sister, so it will be interesting to see where he gets with that. Especially seeing as though Sarah is being adamant about meeting with the firm that does that kind of business. This could mean that maybe she could go behind his back. From episode one, it was painted to us that it was only going to be either Beth or Jamie that survived and we’re now fast approaching it.
Beth
Beth has gone full defense mode for her father and is set on taking up Jamie for the betrayal that he committed on the family. The photos that she had of Jamie disposing of his father’s body were something that she always felt as though she had over him. But in this episode, she was made to realize that they were pointless due to all of the information that Jamie had on John.
With John stating that Menace was going to win the fight that was ahead of them, it seems like that’s something that’s right up her alley and is within her skill set. Hence why she said that she thought it would be best if Jamie was taken out.
Jimmy
One of the first things that we saw in this episode in the present day was Jimmy returning to the show for the first time since season four. We saw that he was working on the ranch in Texas where Rip and the rest of the crew were heading in order to try and keep the cattle safe. It seemed as though he settled into his role on the ranch relatively well. Considering that he was sent there as a last-ditch attempt to make a cowboy of him.
With us in his partner as well, it looks as though he’s built some kind of life down in Texas. So with Rip and the rest of the crew from Yellowstone heading their way, it’ll be interesting to see how they’ll pick back up.
Casey and Monica
Casey and Monica have an interesting market in every episode, but it always feels like they have the least amount of screen time compared to the rest of the characters.
Casey’s vision was something that held great importance at the end of season four and it is brought up again in this episode when it was mentioned about the moving to the House that John said that they could have. I do wonder if by the end of the season there, the arc going to climax with Casey needing to make the decision. It’s all plain sailing for them at the moment.
But maybe with Casey heading up the ranch while Rip is out of state and with the plan to take out Jamie looking like it’s going to come to fruition, Casey may find himself getting involved, and Monica may not want that. Hence where his decision will then need to come from. I’m intrigued to see where this story is going to go, as I feel it’s going to rapidly increase in tension for them very soon.
Yellowstone Season 5’s Future
I thought this Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 8 was a good one, one of the better ones for sure. With six episodes remaining, I think we’re about to see the best ones of the season.
There’s so much at stake, John Dutton’s reputation, his position in the office, the Yellowstone ranch, his life, along with Jamie’s life, Beth’s life, and also the prospect of the ranch staying within the family. I feel all of this will be answered in the next few episodes, and that’s what makes it extremely exciting to see, as we don’t know where it’s truly going to go.
Thomas Rainwater is also losing support from his supporters and then moving over to Angela, so it will also be interesting to see where his arc is going to go too. He’s on the side of Dutton at the moment, but the bad press that’s soon going to be following due to the impeachment may lead to Rainwater naturally needing to steer clear. It’s going to be an interesting few episodes for sure. So there you have it, Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 8 Ending Explained.
Also Read: What is The Connection Between Jacob Dutton & John Dutton in Yellowstone?
