Is Yellowstone Really Over? What We Know About the Dutton Family’s Future After Season 5

Luke Grimes as Kacey Dutton and Kelly Reilly as Beth Dutton on episode 512 of Paramount Network's Yellowstone

Luke Grimes and Kelly Reilly in ‘Yellowstone’. Photo: PARAMOUNT NETWORK

 

After five seasons, Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone has potentially concluded.

The series finale, which aired on Dec. 15, paid tribute to renowned horseman Bob Avila and it tied up several loose ends. Kayce (Luke Grimes) saved the Yellowstone Ranch by selling the land to High Chief Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham), and Beth (Kelly Reilly) avenged late patriarch John (Kevin Costner) by killing Jamie (Wes Bentley).

In May 2023, it was officially announced that Yellowstone would end with season 5. However, more than a year later, Deadline reported that negotiations for a season 6 headlined by Reilly and Cole Hauser, who plays Rip, were underway. The outlet has since announced that the dynamic pair are set to star in their own Yellowstone spinoff but Sheridan has has yet to confirm the report.

“It sure would be a shame to stop a great thing,” Hauser told PEOPLE in November 2024.

So, is Yellowstone ending with season 5? Here’s everything we know about the finale of the modern-day Western series and its potential Beth and Rip offshoot.

What happened in the Yellowstone season 5 finale?

 Chief Thomas Rainwater, Luke Grimes in episode 503 in yellowstone

Gil Birmingham, Mo Brings Plenty and Luke Grimes in ‘Yellowstone’.Emerson Miller/Paramount Network

Yellowstone season 5 ended with a major Dutton victory — and a shocking Dutton death.

Desperate not to lose the Yellowstone Ranch, Kayce sold the land to the Broken Rock Reservation for $1.25 an acre — the price it was worth when his ancestors originally took it from Native Americans. However, he had two conditions for Rainwater: to keep his family on the East Camp and for Yellowstone never to be developed or sold.

“We can’t sell our land, Kayce, we have laws that forbid it. It’s sacred, and that is how we will treat it,” Rainwater told him before they sealed their deal with a blood oath.

Afterward, at John’s funeral, Beth said goodbye to her father and promised to avenge him. “We won,” she whispered to his coffin. “Breaks my heart that I had to lose you to do it. Gonna let you rest now, Daddy.”

Following the small ceremony, Beth raced over to Jamie’s house, where they got into an intense physical altercation. But just as Jamie was about to strangle Beth to death, Rip arrived and saved her. Subsequently, Beth plunged a knife into Jamie’s heart and Rip disposed of the body at the “train station.”

The series ended with Kayce and his son Tate (Brecken Merrill) buying cattle for their land. Meanwhile, Beth and Rip were seen settling down at their new home in Dillon, Mont.

Is Yellowstone officially ending with season 5?

YELLOWSTONE, from left Wes Bentley, Kelly Reilly, Only Devils Left

Wes Bentley and Kelly Reilly in ‘Yellowstone’. Emerson Miller /Paramount Network / Courtesy of Everett Collection

Leading up to the Yellowstone season 5 finale, there have been differing reports about whether the show was, in fact, ending. Paramount Network hasn’t formally announced that Yellowstone has officially ended but signs are pointing that it has.

Back in May 2023, news broke that the series would conclude with its fifth installment and Paramount Network had plans for a Dutton-centric sequel.

Amid rumors that the show might continue, Reilly relayed the same message to fans in November 2024. “We are absolutely ending this show,” she told The New York Times.

What has the Yellowstone cast said about the show ending?

Luke Grimes, Wes Bentley, Kelly Reilly, Kelsey Asbille, and Cole Hauser attend the Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 premiere at Museum of Modern Art on November 07, 2024 in New York City.

Luke Grimes, Wes Bentley, Kelly Reilly, Kelsey Asbille and Cole Hauser attend the Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 premiere at Museum of Modern Art on November 07, 2024 in New York City. Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

The cast of Yellowstone were sad to say goodbye to the beloved series, but Grimes told Entertainment Weekly in September 2024 that he was pleased with the ending.

“I couldn’t be happier. I think it’s a perfect ending for the show for every character,” he said. “It’s just a testament to what a good writer Taylor [Sheridan] is, and it’s a very, very profound, beautiful ending.”

As for Reilly, she told PEOPLE that she tried to savor every moment of filming the fifth and final season.

“Certainly for me, and I really felt this with a lot of the cast members of wanting to lay it all out there this year,” she said in November 2024. “It was like, ‘Let’s just give it your whole heart and give these characters and the show the ending that they deserve.’ “

Back in June 2023, Bentley spoke with The Hollywood Reporter and admitted that he’d “miss the challenge” of playing Jamie but was looking forward to stepping away from the role.

“It will always be there as one of the hardest things I’ve ever accomplished, or tried to accomplish, bringing out all the facets and nuances of this complicated character,” he said. “So I will miss it, but I will also celebrate it being over.”

When will Yellowstone season 5 part 2 be on Peacock?

Kelly Reilly, Kevin Costner, Watch 'Em Ride Away Season 5, ep. 505, aired Dec. 4, 2022 Paramount Network

Kelly Reilly and Kevin Costner in ‘Yellowstone’.Paramount Network

Every season of Yellowstone is available to stream on Peacock, including the first eight episodes of season 5.

The final six episodes of season 5 will eventually land on the platform. Based on when previous installments have historically debuted on the streamer, fans can expect to wait roughly six months after the series finale to see it as an option.

Don’t want to wait? Yellowstone season 5 part 2 (including the series finale) is available for purchase on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+.

Will there be a season 6 of Yellowstone?

Emerson Miller /Paramount Network

Ian Bohen, Jen Landon, Denim Richards, Jake Ream, Ethan Lee and Ryan Bingham in ‘Yellowstone’.Emerson Miller/Paramount Network

A sixth season of Yellowstone is uncertain but unlikely.

In August 2024, rumors began swirling about a potential season 6 when Deadline reported that Reilly and Hauser were in negotiations to headline the series following Costner’s exit.

But by the end of the year, on Dec. 11, those rumors were put to bed when the outlet announced that Reilly and Hauser signed deals to lead a spinoff series and reprise their roles as Beth and Rip. This offshoot will be the first in the Sheridan TV universe to carry Yellowstone in the title, per Deadline.

That same month, Hauser spoke with PEOPLE, but he kept mum about his character’s future.

“We will see what happens over the next year or so and we’ll see what’s next,” he said. “Hopefully, we can continue to get in people’s living rooms and entertain them the way we have over the last seven years.”

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