Everything You Need To Know About the Final Season of ‘Yellowstone’

The smash-hit Western will ride back to TV Nov. 10, but star Kevin Costner's character is riding into the sunset

Tracey Minkin,

AARP

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Published November 06, 2024

A man, a woman and a teen boy standing on a front porch with mountains in the background

"Yellowstone's" Monica Long (Kelsey Asbille) with son Tate Dutton (Brecken Merrill) and husband Kacey Dutton (Luke Grimes).

Paramount

The long-awaited return of Yellowstone, America’s most-watched entertainment TV show, is finally here: Season 5, Part 2 will premiere on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. ET on Paramount Network and 10 p.m. ET on CBS. (The show won’t be streaming on Paramount+, but you can watch its prequels 1883 and 1923 there.)

The last time we saw the Duttons of Montana was Jan. 1, 2023, when the final episode of the first half of Season 5 aired. The 2023 writers and actors strikes, plus filming disputes with star Kevin Costner, 69, slowed production of Season 5’s second half down to a crawl. But finally — hoorah! — the Duttons (or most of them, anyway) return to our small screens to play out the show’s final six episodes.

Ready to head back to the ranch Nov. 10? Here’s a catch-up on where we left things in 2023 and everything we know so far about what’s to come.

a man and woman posing in front of a barn

Cole Hauser and fan fave Kelly Reilly as red-hot lovers Rip Wheeler and Beth Dutton: Will they take over the Yellowstone ranch?

Paramount

Here’s where we left off

In Season 5 Part 1, patriarch John Dutton (Costner) is sworn in as governor of Montana and begins making big moves to protect the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch from his enemies. But Market Equities, the real estate company after the ranch, calls in reinforcements to finally crush the Duttons. This season, tempestuous daughter Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) — often ranked as the show’s most popular character, ahead of Costner’s — takes on Market Equities head Caroline Warner (Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver, 77), intensifying their already hostile relationship. Meanwhile, son Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes), who’d stepped away from the ranch to prioritize his own family — he lost a baby in a car accident, swerving to avoid a bison — feels pulled back into the Dutton drama. In a parallel storyline, John’s adopted son Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) grows closer to Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), a ruthless attorney from Market Equities, who subtly manipulates Jamie against his clan. This fuels ongoing tension in the family, especially between Beth and Jamie, whose relationship was long fraught with bitterness and betrayal. The half-season was a slow-burn cliffhanger pitting Jamie against Beth, and John against Jamie.

Want more? Watch this video recap of the first half of the season

Kevin costner in a car wearing a cowboy hat

Kevin Costner as Yellowstone patriarch John Dutton: He's going, but the show's going strong.

Paramount

What’s coming in Part 2? No more Kevin Costner

Costner thinks it's not his fault he's not on the show anymore. “I would have gone back and done [Yellowstone] again under the right circumstances,” Costner told AARP this fall. “I had a contract for Horizon [Costner’s four-film passion project, and the Yellowstone producers knew about that. The rug came out from under us because the universe they were creating got bigger [with Yellowstone prequels and sequels], and they just didn’t have the scripts for Yellowstone. I became this kind of flash point. I didn’t enjoy that it was mischaracterized.” Bottom line: No John Dutton after Season 5, Part 1.

Do expect some kind of resolution regarding Costner’s character.

Fans recall that Season 5, Part 1 ended with John and Jamie vowing to destroy each other, so Part 2 will have to resolve this somehow. While showrunner Taylor Sheridan may have just written John out of on-screen appearances, it’s possible that the patriarch may die offstage. But not in a bad way: industry newsletter Puck reports that Costner’s latest contract negotiation included a “moral death” clause stipulating that John Dutton’s death would not be shameful or embarrassing to the character (or, you have to figure, to the actor). Time — and this season’s remaining six episodes — will tell.

Your other favorite (or hated) characters — and actors – will be back.

Get ready for a big dysfunctional family reunion: According to Paramount Network, the entire regular Yellowstone cast will be back for Part 2, minus Costner. That includes Bentley, Grimes, Reilly, Cole Hauser (Beth’s husband, Rip Wheeler), Kelsey Asbille (Monica Long Dutton, Kayce’s wife) and Gil Birmingham, 71 (Chief Thomas Rainwater).

So what can we expect to happen in Part 2?

The show’s Part 2 trailer tees up some serious drama on the horizon. We see Rip setting Jamie’s car on fire, Kayce and Thomas becoming blood brothers, and glimpses of Costner in previously filmed snippets. Essentially nothing has leaked about the plot, since the producers turned up storyline security to 11. Actors on the show received their scripts with major events blacked out so they couldn’t blab about the plot. “There was a lot of security around the script and the narrative,” director Christina Voros says in a Paramount Network behind-the-scenes video. “We get these redacted scripts,” says actor Jen Landon (Teeter). “Basically everything is blacked out except for your lines.”

Hold on to your cowboy hats — change is coming (plus Michelle Pfeiffer in a spinoff)

In the Paramount video, Executive producer David Glasser says that in the season finale, “There’s a ton of surprises for the fans.” One thing you can count on: somebody’s apt to get “sent to the train station” (Dutton slang for “murdered”), and Beth and Rip’s romance will be hot as ever. In fact, Reilly and Hauser are in talks to return for a sixth season of Yellowstone. There’s also a new present-day spinoff series, The Madison, in development with Michelle Pfeiffer, 66, and Matthew Fox, 58, yet another prequel series called 1944, and a second season of 1923.

Yellowstone, Season 5, Part 2 premieres Sunday, Nov. 10 at 8 p.m. ET on Paramount Network and 10 p.m. ET on CBS. Five more episodes will follow on Sundays.

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