Is ‘Yellowstone’ On Tonight? Season 5 Return Date, Kevin Costner Update
Happy Father’s Day! We wish we could say that all the dads out there would be treated to a new episode of Yellowstone. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. We do, however, have a bit of a consolation prize: Paramount Network is airing a Yellowstone marathon!
If you’re spending the day parked on the couch, the network is airing the end of Season 4 and the beginning of Season 5 from 10:00 a.m. ET to 10:00 p.m. ET. There are worse ways to spend a day, ya know what I mean?
If you’re not interested in watching reruns, the first three episodes of The Boys Season 4 are now streaming on Prime Video, Andrew McCarthy’s new Brat Pack documentary recently dropped on Hulu, and House Of The Dragon Season 2 premieres Sunday night on HBO. But let’s get back to the matter at hand: new episodes of Yellowstone.
When exactly does your favorite Western saga return with new episodes? Here’s everything we know.
Is Yellowstone on Paramount Network Tonight (June 16)?
What would Father’s Day be without a Yellowstone marathon? Paramount Network is airing Season 4 and 5 episodes today, beginning with Season 4, Episode 9 (“No Such Thing as Fair”) at 9:00 a.m. ET.
The last episode of the marathon, Season 5, Episode 8 (“A Knife and No Coin”), airs at 8:53 p.m. ET.
When Does Yellowstone Return With New Episodes?
On Monday, May 20, Paramount Network announced that Yellowstone has resumed production. The network revealed that the series is “currently filming in Montana” and “slated to return in November.”
Once Yellowstone returns you can watch the show live on Paramount Network, the Paramount Network website (with a valid cable login), or via an active subscription to Philo, fuboTV, Hulu + Live TV, or DirecTV Stream.
Is Kevin Costner Returning To Yellowstone?
Decider’s Nicole Gallucci did a terrific job breaking down all the drama surrounding Kevin Costner and Yellowstone:
- After Yellowstone Season 5, Part 1 wrapped, explosive Yellowstone reports suggested that creator Taylor Sheridan and star/EP Kevin Costner were feuding. In May 2023, fans learned Costner would be leaving the Yellowstone franchise after Season 5, and he reportedly wouldn’t return for Season 5, Part 2 unless he approved of John Dutton’s final storyline.
- In June 2023, Sheridan entered the chat, telling The Hollywood Reporter he was “disappointed” by Costner’s exit but adding, “I don’t do fuck-you car crashes… Whether [Dutton’s fate] inflates [Costner’s] ego or insults is collateral damage that I don’t factor in with regard to storytelling.”
- In September 2023, People reported that when asked if he’d be receiving a salary for the second half of Season 5, Costner detailed struggles experienced while negotiating, saying, “I will probably go to court over it.”
- Costner gave a more hopeful update on his potential return in an April 2024 interview with Entertainment Tonight, saying, “I’d like to be able to do it but we haven’t been able to…I thought I was going to make seven [seasons] but right now we’re at five. So how it works out — I hope it does — but they’ve got a lot of different shows going on. Maybe it will. Maybe this will circle back to me. If it does and I feel really comfortable with [it], I’d love to do it.”
- Costner revealed that production delays led to his exit during a recent interview with GQ. As Samantha Nungesser wrote on Decider, “production delays due to the dual Hollywood strikes and COVID along with scheduling conflicts made it difficult for Costner to remain on board for the second half of Season 5 — especially since he was set to direct, co-write and star in the new Western Horizon.”
- “We very rarely started when we said we would and we didn’t finish when we said we would,” Costner told GQ in regards to filming Yellowstone. “And I was okay with that. I really was. I was okay with it, but it wasn’t a trend that could continue for me.”
- Costner’s potential involvement in the final episodes of the fifth season, and the fate of John Dutton, remain shrouded in uncertainty. It’s a mystery the actor himself doesn’t know the answer to. “I love that character. I love that world. I am a person that is very script-oriented. And if the scripts aren’t there now, I need to know what I am,” he told GQ. “I want to make sure that the character lines up with what’s important to me too. And that’s pretty simple. That’s just between, again, Taylor [Sheridan] and myself. Can we ever get there? I don’t know.”
- Paramount Network released a statement to GQ regarding Costner’s exit. “Kevin has been a big part of Yellowstone’s success,” the company said. “While we had hoped that we would continue working with him, unfortunately, we could not find a window that worked for him, all the other talent, and our production needs in order to move forward together. We respect that Kevin has prioritized his new film series and we wish him the best.”
Will Yellowstone Be Back For Season 6?
In May 2023, it was confirmed that Yellowstone Season 5 would be the show’s final season, which means a sixth season likely won’t happen, with or without Costner. Two new spinoffs — currently titled 1944 and 2024 — are, however, in the works.
No plot details for 1944 or 2024 are available, but Variety reports that 2024 is expected to begin airing following the conclusion of Yellowstone, with the show featuring “new cast members and locations with some crossover characters as well.” This is the series that could potentially include Matthew McConaughey, who’s been rumored to star in a Yellowstone spinoff since April 2023.
Yellowstone star Cole Hauser, who plays Rip on the series, also teased a potential future project with his co-star Kelly Reilly, who portrays his wife Beth Dutton.
“I know that there’s some stuff on the horizon when it comes to Taylor [Sheridan]’s ideas for Kelly Reilly and myself and some of the other cast,” Hauser told Country Living in an April 2024 interview. “I’m excited to see where he goes creatively with that but right now it’s just, let’s finish strong; let’s do the best we can.”