What’s Next for ‘Yellowstone’? From Beth and Rip Spinoff to ‘The Madison’
Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler may not be riding off into the sunset just yet.
The fan-favorite Yellowstone couple played by Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser, respectively, have been in talks to continue to expand Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone-verse since this summer. Then on Wednesday, just days ahead of the season 5B finale, multiple reports surfaced that the pair have finalized deals — not for a sixth season, but for their own spinoff series.
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The news, if true, was essentially a spoiler — and explains why nothing has been publicly confirmed. (Paramount Network has not commented.)
Heading into Sunday’s epic conclusion to the currently airing season, anything could have happened. A confirmed spinoff series with two of the show’s main stars would spoil for the audience that they survive whatever is ahead in the nail-biting finale for the main Dutton family, which also includes Luke Grimes and Wes Bentley. (Read what happened in the finale; spoilers ahead!)
Executive producer and director Christina Voros told THR a week ahead of the finale that the audience wouldn’t see the ending coming: “It all makes sense looking backward. But looking forward, you never would have seen it coming. That’s the magic place in storytelling and I think Taylor has done that with the finale.” (Here’s her full post-finale interview, more spoilers ahead!)
All eyes have been on the Sheridan series to see where the co-creator, writer and director would steer his flagship Western saga ever since the departure of his star Kevin Costner and the announcement that season 5B would be the final season of Yellowstone. Season 5B was announced back in May 2023 as the final season. But then, over the summer, reports surfaced that Reilly and Hauser were in talks to continue Yellowstone with a possible sixth season.
Those subsequent talks with Reilly and Hauser have since put the fate of TV’s No. 1 series up in the air about whether the finale of season 5B would be the final installment of the season or the series at large.
Going into Sunday’s big event, here’s what was confirmed: As THR reported, Sheridan directed a supersized “special season finale event” for Paramount Network. The Dec. 15 episode, written by Sheridan, had a runtime of one hour and 26 minutes and aired for two hours with commercial breaks. Titled, “Life Is A Promise,” the logline read, “The fate of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch is revealed.”
Reilly and Hauser have expressed their interest in following Sheridan, who writes all episodes of Yellowstone, wherever his pen takes them. “Taylor can figure out how to absolutely continue if he wants to,” Hauser told THR at the start of this season. Reilly added, “It’s up to him. We trust him. He’s a master storyteller, and we help him tell these characters’ stories, and it’s been such a ride and so electrifying to play and so invigorating. I trust him with wherever he takes her; whether we’re leaving her where we’ve left her, or we’re going to find her somewhere else, I trust him.”
Speaking to THR after the finale, Voros said that Sheridan left the door “wide open” to continue on with their fan-favorite married pair. “I think he has left the door wide open for any number of stories to come out of that romance, and because people are in love with them, I think an audience would be interested in seeing whatever story that would become,” she said, in part (leaving out major spoilers around Beth and Rip’s ending). “Ultimately, when you have interesting, complicated characters, especially those with dark secrets, something interesting is going to happen. And I think what he has done with the way he ends the show, it could be the end of the fairytale or it could be the beginning of another tragedy. You just don’t know.” The finale also circled back to prequel series 1883 with its full-circle ending.
Next up in the larger Yellowstone-verse is the second season of the second prequel series 1923, which returns Feb. 23, and stars Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren and Brandon Sklenar as an elder generation of Duttons to the present-day Dutton family that stars in Yellowstone.
1923 followed the next generation of Duttons after the events of 1883, and it ended on a cliffhanger back in February 2023. The saga of 1923 elevated a key Dutton elder, Sklenar’s Spencer Dutton, who must return to Montana to save the Dutton family’s Yellowstone ranch from external threats.
And then there is The Madison led by Michelle Pfeiffer — one of two other new, planned spinoff series — which is currently in production; a premiere date has yet to be announced.
The Madison was initially described as a sequel series to Yellowstone and titled “2024,” but as the series began to take shape, here’s what we know: The present-day spinoff takes place after the events of Yellowstone and will continue exploring the Dutton family dynasty with new characters and locations, as well as some existing characters. The Madison is described as a heartfelt study of grief and human connection following a New York City family in the Madison River valley of central Montana, and also stars Matthew Fox, Patrick J. Adams, Elle Chapman, Beau Garrett, Ben Schnetzer and Amiah Miller.
The other confirmed spinoff series is another prequel set in 1944, following in the footsteps of 1883 and 1923. But details are scarce around that one.
So, in conclusion, no matter how the Yellowstone finale played out — we’re looking at you, Jamie Dutton! — Sheridan’s Yellowstone-verse continues to race ahead. (Here’s how to stream Yellowstone.)
Dec. 17, 12:30 p.m. This story has been updated with finale links and quotes to THR‘s interview with executive producer Christina Voros after the season 5B finale.
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