For several years, Yellowstone was TV”s biggest unsung champion, drawing millions of viewers into the struggles of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton with his family and those trying to take his land. The Montana-set series then became a spinoff-spawning juggernaut for co-creator Taylor Sheridan. And yet, the 2024 TV schedule has been completely lacking in Duttons, with Sheridan and Costner’s feuding chaos leading to the lead actor's exit ahead of the long-delayed final Season 5 episodes. But this franchise still has a lot left to deliver.
Throw on some of Luke Grimes and Ryan Bingham's respective country singles and let's take a look at the upcoming Yellowstone shows that fans will one day enjoy on either Paramount Network or with a Paramount+ subscription.
Yellowstone Season 5 Returns November 10 (Paramount Network)
Yellowstone left viewers hanging back on January 1, 2023 with Season 5 hitting its midway point, when no one yet had any clue how wild things would soon get. Fast-forward 17 months to May 2024, beyond further delays impacted by the WGA and SAG-Aftra strikes, and filming finally began for the back half of the fifth season.
Paramount announced that the production was starting up anew, and it wasn't long before stars like Cole Hauser were posting pics from Montana. And not too long after that, actors were already starting to post pictures from their last days on the set. (At least the Montana set, as Kelly Reilly revealed she also filmed Beth scenes in Texas after wrapping up north.)
And so, around a year after Paramount Network's initial release window for the back half of Season 5, the episodes will at last arrive starting on Sunday, November 10. The exact number of episodes has not been confirmed just yet, and it's unclear if it will match the initial episode order.
Yellowstone Season 6 Is A Possibility (Paramount Network)
Despite Paramount Network putting the word out in 2023 that Yellowstone would be wrapping up with Season 5, with or without Kevin Costner at the head, it appears that may not be the case anymore after all. News broke in late August pointing to studio execs working with stars Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser on deals that will keep them locked into playing Beth and Rip for a sixth season.
Those two co-stars in particular were rumored to be in negotiations to star in a new series directly following up on Yellowstone's storyline, though rumored hurdles in the conversations made it seem like it might not ever come together. Now, it looks like this new scenario is a best-case replacement for the sequel series plans, though it's unclear at this time what other series regulars from the mothership would follow Rip and Beth's blaze of glory.
1923 - Season 2 Return TBA (Paramount+)
While some fans are still clamoring for 1883 to get a second season, we do know that 1923, the second of Yellowstone’s lineage-exploring prequels, is indeed returning to finish out its Depression-era story with Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren's Jacob and Cara Dutton. A second eight-episode season was ordered back in February 2023, during the drama’s mini-midseason hiatus, but filming was postponed due to the WGA strike.
Progress on Season 2 is still slow-going, but it was reported in May that the production moved from Butte, Montana down to Austin, Texas, and filming kicked off in July. The episodes are expected to film until September or October, which makes it likely they'll hit Paramount+ in Spring/Summer 2025, though possibly later.
The Madison - TBA (TBA)
Despite whatever was believed to be the case before, Yellowstone's first official contemporary spinoff will now be a completely original series titled The Madison. This is said to be the project that was previously titled 2024, which had Matthew McConaughey reportedly attached for months before the latest updates started popping up in August 2024.
The series will follow a wealthy New York family, with Michelle Pfeiffer starring as a mourning matriarch who moves her clan to Montana's Madison River valley after a pair of tragic deaths. It's described as being a "heartfelt study of grief and human connection," and its cast will also include Patrick J. Adams, Elle Chapman, Beau Garrett, Amiah Miller, and Matthew Fox.
The Madison is set to air at some point following the conclusion of Yellowstone Season 5, though an exact date hasn't been announced. As well, Paramount has yet to confirm whether the spinoff will air on linear TV or as a streaming exclusive.
6666 - Possibly 2025 (Paramount Network)
Tied into Jimmy's storyline taking him down to Texas to learn the ropes of becoming a legitimate cowboy, Taylor Sheridan & Co. previously revealed plans for the concurrently set companion spinoff 6666, which would feature the iconic Four Sixes Ranch as its central setting. Sheridan bought the ranch himself in June 2022 for upwards of $320 million, with a sub-goal of using the property to help prep his TV universes, and it seemed then like the last step to bringing the 6666 spinoff to life.
However, it’s been well over three years since CinemaBlend first reported on the spinoff in Feb. 2021, and though Yellowstone did semi-develop Jimmy and new wifey Emily’s situation at the Texas ranch, news about this project has appeared less frequently than Beth Dutton’s appreciation for Jamie. But Kelly Reilly filming in Texas for the back half of Season 5 is as good a sign as any that Jimmy and Emily will get more attention in the future. But how much will it be?
1944 (Paramount+)
At the time when Paramount announced that Yellowstone was ending with Season 5 and that 2024 was happening, the company also revealed a brand new prequel is on the way. Set in the titular year of 1944, this spinoff is set to follow 1923's younger generation into their futures, building up even more of the Dutton family tree in the process.
That said, since the first two parts of that announcement may end up not exactly coming true, it remains to be seen whether or not forward progress will be made on 1944, which has yet to announce any further details or casting. But we're presumably not far away from hearing about a 1960s-set and/or 1980s-set spinoff.
Other Upcoming Taylor Sheridan Projects
One of the easiest ways to quantify Yellowstone’s success in recent years is to look at how much Taylor Sheridan’s creative output has exploded, since the neo-western (combined with the multi-hyphenate’s big screen successes) provided him something of a blank slate, complete with a line of blank-ish checks to fund things. The Duttons may be the bread and butter, but they’re certainly no longer the whole meal.
Here’s a rundown of all the non-Yellowstone projects that Taylor Sheridan has on the horizon (but not Kevin Costner’s Horizon):
- Tulsa King (Paramount+) - Season 2 premiering September 15, 2024
- Landman (Paramount+) - Series premiere set for November 17, 2024
- Special Ops: Lioness (Paramount+) - Season 1 finished in September 2023; Season 2 was ordered in May 2024.
- Empire of the Summer Moon (Film) - Taylor Sheridan’s Bosque Ranch banner nabbed the rights to the nonfiction book Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History, which is a passion project for the filmmaker.
- Mayor of Kingstown (Paramount+) - Awaiting possible Season 4 update
- Lawmen (Paramount+) - Season 1, Lawmen: Bass Reeves aired its finale in December 2023, with no updates for Season 2’s subject matter.
So that about wraps things up for the plethora of new and ongoing projects filling up Taylor Sheridan’s plate for the next couple of years. Stay tuned for more information about all of the above shows, as well as any new ones that crop up in the near future.
