The final episodes of “Yellowstone” will arrive Nov. 10 on Paramount, with or without Kevin Costner.
The Western drama, which was the most-watched series of the 2022-2023 season besides “NFL Sunday Night Football,” is currently filming Season 5 Part 2 in Montana. The series’ final six episodes will premiere the next day, on Nov. 11, in the U.K. and will get a release date later in November in Latin America, Brazil and France.
Created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, “Yellowstone” hails from MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios, as well as executive producers Linson, Art Linson, Sheridan, Costner, David C. Glasser, Bob Yari, Stephen Kay, Michael Friedman, Christina Voros and Keith Cox.
Costner, the star of “Yellowstone” for the first five and a half seasons, exited the series over Paramount’s choice to split Season 5 into two parts, which the actor said interfered with his work on “Horizon: An American Saga,” his four-part Western movie (the first installment of which bowed at Cannes Film Festival). But, as the series shoots its final episodes, Costner has expressed his desire to return to “Yellowstone” and close out his arc as John Dutton, the ranch-owning patriarch and protagonist of the show.
“I’ve supported that thing and I’ve loved it. It’s been really important to me. I would love to go back under the right circumstances I think that all of us want. For me, it really needs to be the right circumstances,” Costner said as recently as June 17. “Saying there’s a chance, there’s always a chance. I love the thing. You’ve got to be really clear about that.”
Back in April, Costner sang a similar tune, saying he’d “like to be able” to return, “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.”
Addressing reports that Costner exited “Yellowstone” after Paramount denied his request to only work for one week, Costner told GQ magazine, “Their big plan was to suddenly do eight [episodes] now and then in the fall do eight more. I said, ‘I have a contract to do “Horizon,” and I have people and money.’ I think there was a belief that I couldn’t get it mounted, but I didn’t really care what anybody believed. … Somebody picked up the idea that I only wanted to work one week. … My big disappointment is I never heard Paramount or 101 [Studios] really come to my defense and say, ‘That’s not true. He was going to do three more seasons.’ I started off only giving three seasons, ended up doing five and got embroiled in a thing that I don’t feel one person over there ever told the story correctly, ever, about what I had done and what I’ve been willing to do. That’s really fucking bothered me, that none of them would actually try to set the record straight.”
“Yellowstone” also stars Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, Luke Grimes and Kelsey Asbille. The series has spawned two spinoffs — “1883” and “1923” — plus more in the works.
