The flagship series may have ended, but Taylor Sheridan's franchise continues to expand.
💡Analysis & Context
The flagship series may have ended, but Taylor Sheridan's franchise continues to expand The flagship series may have ended, but Taylor Sheridan's franchise continues to expand. Monitor developments in What for further updates.
The flagship series may have ended, but Taylor Sheridan's franchise continues to expand.
Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton in ‘Yellowstone.’ Paramount Network Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Send an Email Show additional share options Share on Reddit Post a Comment Share on Whats App Share on Pinterest Share on LinkedIn Print the Article Share on Tumblr Logo text Yellowstone may have galloped off into the sunset. But even though the flagship series formerly starring Kevin Costner took a final ride with its supersized season 5B finale, the Yellowstone universe remains very much alive and kicking. And that remains true amid the Yellowstone world-shifting news that Sheridan is getting ready to hang up his spurs at Paramount. The prolific writer and director will jump to NBCUniversal, beginning with a film deal that will go into effect next year. Sheridan’s TV deal with Paramount is not up until the end of 2028, but he will bring that over to NBCUniversal when it ends. Until then, Sheridan has many spinoffs and series coming down the pipe. Following the success of prequel series 1883, the Yellowstone-verse mastermind traveled back in time on the Dutton family tree and launched 1923, which recently wrapped its second and likely final season. The prequel-verse next jumps to the series 1944. After the resolution of Hollywood’s dual writer and actor strikes in 2023 (which delayed both recent Yellowstone and 1923 seasons), Paramount Network had revealed that the Dutton saga would be expanding with at least two more spinoffs, 1944 as well as present-day series The Madison (though the latter is no longer set in the Yellowstone-verse, see below). Since then, two more high-profile spinoffs have joined the list: Marshals (which was renamed), starring Yellowstone star Luke Grimes, and the Beth and Rip spinoff starring Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser with the working title Dutton Ranch. Below, The Hollywood Reporter has been rounding up all of the series news in the Yellowstone-verse as details come available. (This story originally posted January 2024 and will continue to be updated.) Yellowstone (5 seasons) Image Credit: Courtesy of Paramount Network Logo text The Paramount Network flagship series that started it all began in 2018. The second half of its fifth season (season 5B) was announced as the final season, with the six-episode season’s finale having aired on Dec. 15, 2024. The formerly Costner-led cattle ranch family saga has continuously grown its audience, with the premiere of part one of season five breaking ratings records and earning the biggest overnight launch for the series. Yellowstone‘s record-setting return continued to pull in big audiences and closed with a series high. After star Costner was embroiled in a standoff over his filming schedule, which delayed production, Paramount Network announced that the megahit series would end with season five. After many months of speculation, Costner finally confirmed that he had indeed departed the series. Viewers had to tune in to see how Sheridan wrote him off the series, given the cliffhanger ending of the midseason 5A finale. Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser, Wes Bentley, Luke Grimes and Kelsey Asbille star as the main Dutton family left to pick up the pieces. After season 5B was announced as the final run, continuations with Reilly and Hauser, who play fan-favorites Beth Dutton and Rip, and Grimes, following his Kayce Dutton, were in early development (more on those, below), making it likely that the Yellowstone flagship has indeed come to an end. Because of a licensing deal that pre-dated the Viacom-CBS merger, Yellowstone has streamed exclusively on NBCUniversal-backed Peacock (and isn’t available on Paramount+ like the prequels are; see how to watch the series here).