Yellowstone will be expanding after all. Before last season ended, Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan had shared that the popular Western would be leaving one of its filming locations for Season 4. That casualty was Utah, and despite Sheridan indicating that Season 4 would film exclusively in Montana, it will feature a surprising new location. Where is Yellowstone heading after that stunning finale?
The Paramount series is on the move, and it is heading south to North Texas, specifically Fort Worth, per NBC5. For those unaware, co-creator and screenwriter extraordinaire Taylor Sheridan is from Texas, and now he gets to show off his home state on his hit TV show. Details on what was filmed there and which characters were involved were not disclosed.
It is pretty safe to say that Fort Worth will not be standing in for a Montana location in Yellowstone Season 4. Prominent local fixtures will be shown, including the Stockyards and the Will Rogers Memorial Complex. Meanwhile, the location of Weatherford’s Mary’s Brazos Café was changed to Paducah. In its original location, Mary’s Brazos Café is 30 miles from Fort Worth.
In its Yellowstone location, Mary’s Brazos Café is 195.6 miles away. The reason for the change was not disclosed by Taylor Sheridan. Are John and Rip going on a road trip in Season 4? Well, John has to survive for that to happen, and Yellowstone must protect its secrets. Asked if he could explain the café alteration, Taylor Sheridan told NBC5:
Nope. I sure can’t. We were filming some scenes. I can’t really tell you what we were filming because that will spoil next season, and I don’t want to do that but yeah, we were filming in Weatherford and the Stockyards. We filmed at Will Rogers.
I wonder if what Yellowstone was filming had to do with the Duttons and Rip investigating who was behind the coordinated attacks on John, Beth, and Kayce in last season’s finale. Is it someone out of town? Will the Duttons have to travel down to Texas for answers? Or is this another storyline altogether? I have theories, and they have to do with the fate of a non-Dutton family member.
He is an extended family member, though. I am talking about Jimmy, whose life was also left hanging in the balance when Yellowstone signed off last season. Fans will recall that Jimmy had given into the mounting pressure from his girlfriend to continue risking his life as a rodeo star. She also wanted him to leave the ranch despite Jimmy being one of “branded.”
Could Jimmy survive and leave the ranch, only for Rip to search for him? The locations being used makes me think the Season 4 location shoot is something rodeo-related. Of course, I could be off-base about that. The good news is that Yellowstone viewers will eventually find out, so feel free to start watching or re-watching the show on Peacock. As for showcasing his home state, Taylor Sheridan admitted there was pressure, saying:
It’s a lot of fun and a lot of responsibility. You really want to showcase that area, and i’m so proud, as everyone from Fort Worth is. Yellowstone is a unique show. It’s a western but it’s also about the lifestyle of cowboys and ranching that way of life, and you really can’t explore that fully unless you come to the place where cowboy was invented, and that’s Texas.
Yee-haw! Fans will get to see what all of the filming activity means for Yellowstone down the line. Right now, I do not think it has to do with the California-based biker gang. Some fans theorized they were behind the attack on John. Of course, the California gang was in Montana, so travel is not out of the question for them.
Nevertheless, it is reassuring that the Western felt like it could expand in spite of COVID, which the show readily prepared for ahead of filming Season 4. Speaking of which, Season 4 is currently expected to arrive after this fall’s premieres in June of 2021 on the Paramount Network. Season 3 of Yellowstone begins streaming just in time for the holidays on Sunday, November 22, on NBCUniversal’s Peacock.
