Yellowstone Will End With Season 5, But a New Spinoff Is on the Way

UPDATE, May 5: Yellowstone is officially coming to an end with the second half of Season 5, Paramount announced on Friday. The final installment will premiere this November on Paramount Network.

While the flagship Western may be ending, Paramount Network has already ordered a new (still untitled) sequel to debut in December. Plot and casting details are being kept under wraps, but in February, Deadline reported that Matthew McConaughey is in talks to star in a new show set in the Yellowstone universe.

"Yellowstone has been the cornerstone on which we have launched an entire universe of global hits — from 1883 to Tulsa King," Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios, said in a statement. "I am confident our Yellowstone sequel will be another big hit, thanks to the brilliant creative mind of Taylor Sheridan and our incredible casts who bring these shows to life."

In a follow-up statement, 101 Studios CEO David Glasser revealed the spinoff will "pick up where Yellowstone leaves off in another epic tale."

Paramount's major announcement comes after months of reports about a dispute between Yellowstone star Kevin Costner and creator Taylor Sheridan. Earlier this week, multiple sources said Costner would not return to Yellowstone after its fifth season due to other commitments.

Though the network has yet to confirm, Deadline previously reported that several stars from the Yellowstone mothership will move over to McConaughey’s series, which will air on Paramount Network and stream exclusively on Paramount+. (While spinoffs 1883 and 1923 are Paramount+ originals, Yellowstone proper streams on Peacock as part of an agreement inked years ago.)

The forthcoming spinoff is the fifth planned Yellowstone expansion series. Other dramas in Sheridan’s hit franchise include prequel series 1883, which explores the founding of the Duttons’ Yellowstone ranch, and 1923, starring Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford as Duttons facing the Great Depression; Bass Reeves, an 1883 spinoff about the first Black U.S. Marshal (played by David Oyelowo); and 6666, set in the present day on the Four Sixes Ranch in Texas.

Yellowstone is available to stream on Peacock. Join the discussion about the show in our forums.

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.