In a direct response to Outsider, Paramount has addressed the future of Yellowstone and what we can expect moving forward.
On Monday, Deadline dropped a bombshell article citing everything from the ending of Yellowstone with Season 5 to a disgruntled Kevin Costner being replaced with Matthew McConaughey. As the biggest entertainment shocker to hit in recent memory, the report has spread like wildfire. But is any of it true?
To find out, I reached out to Paramount reps whom I’ve been working with for multiple years. The studio’s response at large is the same as the one given to Deadline (repeated below). But the direct response from Paramount execs makes it clear that Yellowstone isn’t going anywhere.
In short, Yellowstone will continue past Season 5’s second half as previously thought. Paramount has no intention of cancelling their most successful property/the most watched show on television, and this has been confirmed to me by multiple Paramount execs on the backend.
As for Kevin Costner‘s continued involvement, Paramount refers back to their blanket statement while emboldening the first sentence:
“We have no news to report. Kevin Costner is a big part of Yellowstone and we hope that’s the case for a long time to come”
Paramount Network spokesperson
And as for Matthew McConaughey, well, there is truth to that budding relationship:
“Thanks to the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan, we are always working on franchise expansions of this incredible world he has built. Matthew McConaughey is a phenomenal talent with whom we’d love to partner.”
Paramount Network spokesperson
To be clear, this is where the facts stop. Everything else is speculation.
How Will Matthew McConaughey Factor Into ‘Yellowstone’?
Last year, our team couldn’t shake a particular idea, which resulted in ‘Yellowstone’ Needs to Cast Matthew McConaughey as ‘6666’ Lead: Making the Case. Texas’ most famous actor and the biggest show on television feel a natural fit, especially with the show spending half of Season 4, then all of Season 5 shifting the show towards Texas.
And it makes sense for Yellowstone‘s showrunner and mastermind to do so, too. Like McConaughey, Taylor Sheridan was born and raised in Texas. Sheridan is also the real deal, having grown up on a Texas ranch before cowboying across the American West ever since. It’s who he is. So much so, in fact, that he’s transformed his Yellowstone fortune into the purchase of the largest and most famous ranch in the state, The Four Sixes.
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With Sheridan now owning the namesake for the next show we’re (expecting) to see from his partnership with Paramount, we’d expect McConaughey to enter as part of the 6666 spinoff. We’ve received no updates on 6666 as a property in a good long while, however.
Instead, my gut tells me that 6666 has been absorbed into Yellowstone for the time being, and that those rumors of McConaughey signing on and replacing Costner are born of him joining Yellowstone proper sooner rather than later. And we could him down on the Four Sixes as Jimmy Hurdstrom’s (Jefferson White) story continues.
We’ll find out more as Yellowstone returns to finish filming Season 5 this spring.
