Yellowstone's shocking death was a long time coming- can the rest of the series survive?

Paramount’s “Yellowstone” has made its triumphant return with a new season or, rather, the second part of Season 5 which aired all the way back in 2022, coming out from a writer’s strike, actor’s strike, the “end” of a pandemic, and a behind-the-scenes battle with lead actor Kevin Costner as Dutton patriarch, John Dutton. 

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Let’s take a quick look back on Yellowstone as a series and accidental franchise before we dive into how we got to where we are. 

Way back in the far-off and mystical year of 2018,  long-standing network channel Spike TV (owned by Paramount) was rebranded as “The Paramount Network” following the slow and troublesome launch of Paramount’s streaming service CBS All Access, now known as Paramount+

Spike TV, to those who remember, was a network that was pretty much devoted to nonstop reruns of “Bar Rescue” and “Impractical Jokers”. 

The Paramount Network was Paramount’s attempt to get a slice of the “prestige TV” pie which, of course, was still being hogged by HBO, Showtime, and even AMC.

The network’s big launch lineup included “Yellowstone” from accomplished screenwriter and director Taylor Sheridan as well as the dramatic “Waco”, a reimagining of “Heathers”, and the bio-comedy “American Woman”. 

Yellowstone, initially conceived as a limited series (evident by John Dutton’s tumor subplot) was very obviously quickly reworked into an on-going series as Paramount struggled to keep then-CBS All Access afloat with content. 

Because of this, many of Paramount's shows found homes on Comcast-affiliated streamers, including what would become “Peacock.”

Yellowstone would accidentally The Paramount Network’s one (and only) flagship series, but by the time it exploded in popularity, the ink was already dry and Peacock had streaming rights to Yellowstone for a multi-year deal which expires in 2025. 

 To combat this, Paramount had an easy fix: while the main “Yellowstone” series was theirs to air on their TV network and Peacock’s to stream, Paramount could keep the “Yellowstone” universe going with prequels and spinoffs such as “1883” and “1923” which they could use to attract fans to Paramount+. 

Okay. Now that part is out of the way. 

Originally conceived as a limited series, accidentally became a phenomenon, John Dutton was supposed to die at the end of Season 1. Remember all of that? 

Costner, a filmmaker at heart, eventually got bored of the TV series life, not that one can blame him since this was very obviously supposed to be a quick buck for a season-long gig. 

Paramount renewed the series for a jumbo-sized 5th and final season to be split into two parts, but Costner got antsy, wanting to shift focus to his life-long passion project with Warner Brothers, HORIZON, which tanked in theaters over the summer, initially a multi-film “saga” now relegated to release limbo. 

Costner had a falling out with “Yellowstone”, exiting the series at the end of Season 5 Part I to pursue his film, leaving John Dutton behind in a series that had barely rebounded from a COVID-impacted 4th season.

Season 5 Part 2, which debuted Sunday, is the fallout of that departure and the ultimate test to see if this world can function without Costner. 

The episode starts with the off-camera suicide (murder) of Costner’s Dutton who was about to face an impeachment hearing as Montana’s governor at the hands of his adopted son Jamie (Wes Bentley) who was exiled from the family and found solace in the arms of Equity something-something, the corporate bad guys that have been plaguing the series the last 2 seasons.

The post-Costner Yellowstone rests on the shoulders of John’s rambunctious daughter Beth (Kelly Reilly), son Casey (Luke Grimes), and Beth’s husband / John’s surrogate son, the handsome and manly ranch-hand Rip (Cole Hauser) with Bentley’s Jamie in the shadows as the series’ final bad guy. 

But does it work? Ehh. Maybe. 

Yellowstone has had an identity crisis the last few seasons, an apparent side effect of showrunner and writer Taylor Sheridan’s comically large and diverse list of on-going projects for Paramount including - take a breath with me - “Mayor of Kingston”, “1883”, “1923”, “Lioness”, “Landman”, “Tulsa King”, and “Lawman: Bass Reeves” all of which have become franchises in their own right. 

Seasons 1 - 3 of Yellowstone were not only focused on the Shakespearean drama of this family but also the ramifications the Duttons had on the world around them, including the Broken Rock Reservation and their Indigenous tribe as well as musings on legacy, life, the land, and more. It was a meaty and well-written neo-western drama with moral grey splashed across the beautiful Montana landscape. 

Season 4 of Yellowstone leaned into the “Dallas” soap opera aspects the series had always played with, including a whole fakeout “Who Shot J.R.?” campaign and a major play into the legion of women who became hooked on Beth and Rip’s love story, giving them their fairy-tale ending and even a ready-made adopted child. 

It became a “cleaner” show, more interested in the branding than the content, spinning in place for the majority of Season 4 and the first half of Season 5, giving characters like Chairman Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) the backseat, forced to show up in scenes just to get out of his car and look at things before cutting away. 

Without Costner to fall back on, we are left with Beth and Casey as the apparent leads while Jamie still schemes in the shadows, which was exactly what the premiere was. A lot of set-up. 

Casey, who has been itching for the spotlight for a long time (especially after spending 70% of Season 4 on a “vision quest”) really gets to flex and of course, we get the cowboys and cowgirl dynamic of the bunkhouse who spend a little bit of time in Texas. 

We will wait until the next episode to see if this is going to be another season of hot air of if this show can truly survive without leading man Costner.