Yellowstone Season 5B - Unit Photography

©Paramount Global, 2024
The supersized Season 5 finale of Yellowstone aired last night, finally revealing the fate of the Montana ranch after five gripping seasons of power struggles. Now, fans are left wondering about the future of the neo-Western drama—will Yellowstone end here, or is there hope for a sixth season and a new spinoff?

Season 5B premiered on the Paramount Network on Nov. 10, kicking off with a literal bang: John Dutton (Kevin Costner)’s death. Though initially ruled a suicide, Beth and Kayce’s investigation ultimately uncovered the truth—Sarah Atwood, the girlfriend of John’s estranged son Jamie (Wes Bentley), was the mastermind and hired a hitman to commit the murder.

Sarah ultimately meets her end a few episodes later when she’s gunned down and killed in her vehicle. Tragically, fans also witness the heartbreaking death of beloved cowboy Colby (Denim Richards), who succumbs to his injuries after being kicked in the chest by a horse while helping Carter (Finn Little).Beth and Kayce are determined to do whatever it takes to save the ranch, especially now that the new governor is moving forward with plans to divide the Yellowstone property for development, which goes against their father’s wishes. The penultimate episode teased that Kayce is crafting a plan for the future of the Dutton legacy, while fans are left wondering if Beth will finally take Jamie to the “train station.”

In the finale, viewers witness John Dutton’s funeral, where Beth vows at her father’s casket to avenge him—and she delivers on that promise. In a violent confrontation, she ultimately kills her brother Jamie, stabbing him during the brutal fight. “I’m gonna be the last thing you ever f**king see,” she says to him. To cover her tracks, Beth provides a false statement to authorities, claiming she had an altercation with Jamie before he went missing. Meanwhile, Rip and Beth transport Jamie’s body (surprise) to the train station, leaving him to rest alongside his biological father, Garrett Randall.

As for the ranch’s fate, the Yellowstone is sold back to the Broken Rock Reservation after Kayce strikes a deal with Chief Thomas Rainwater, offering the same price his ancestor James Dutton (Tim McGraw) once paid: $1.25 an acre. However, there are two conditions: Rainwater must sign the deed for the East Camp back to Kayce so that his wife Monica and their son Tate have a home, and he must agree never to develop or sell the Yellowstone.

The deal is finalized in a ceremonial scene where Rainwater and Kayce seal the agreement with a blood handshake as Mo (Brings Plenty) sings a song in his Native language. “I will protect this for you and for all our relations,” Rainwater tells Kayce, also promising to erase any trace that the Duttons had ever been there.

Now that the finale’s over, what’s next for Yellowstone? While the series was originally expected to wrap up with Season 5B, recent reports suggest otherwise. Here’s everything we know about the future of Yellowstone and the rumored spinoff featuring some of the original characters.

Will There Be A Yellowstone Season 6?

L-R: Luke Grimes as Kacey Dutton and Kelly Reilly as Beth Dutton on episode 512 of Paramount Network\'s Yellowstone

©Paramount Global, 2024
The Paramount Network announced last year that Yellowstone would conclude with Season 5. However, fans won’t have to bid farewell to their favorite characters just yet. While the main series is most likely ending, Deadline reported on Dec. 11 that lead actors Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser have finalized deals to star in a spinoff series, where they will reprise their roles as Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler, respectively.

Sources say that Sheridan is in the process of developing the spinoff, which is expected to feature cast members from Yellowstone and will likely include “Yellowstone” in the title.

Puck News first reported in August that Yellowstone was in talks to continue beyond Season 5, Part 2. Deadline then confirmed that the show’s producers, MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios, had been in negotiations with Reilly and Hauser for several months. At the time, it was unclear whether they would lead a new show or continue with the mothership series.

Deadline co-editor-in-chief, TV, Nellie Andreeva, reported that “while the intent remains to continue the story in Yellowstone and a source indicated that doing another season was not completely out of the question, the focus ultimately returned to doing it in a new series.”

Andreeva continued, “That would allow Paramount Network’s parent Paramount Global to keep the show within the company’s ecosystem unlike the mothership series, which has a pre-existing exclusive streaming deal with NBCUniversal’s Peacock.”

When asked about the spinoff in an October 20204 interview with USA Today, Reilly said, “The truth is there is nothing definitive or set right now.” She added, “We just want to end this chapter of ‘Yellowstone’ because it deserves it. We’re talking a lot about the future, but I just want everyone to see these last six episodes as their finale. And then, if there is a future, and if Taylor (Sheridan) writes something else for us, we’ve both said we’re there.”

Meanwhile, Hauser shared his thoughts about reprising their roles post-Yellowstone with The Hollywood Reporter in November 2024. “You can go on forever about these two. There’s no walls when it comes to them, no limits,” he said. “As long as Taylor [Sheridan] wants to write something special, I know Kelly and I would be interested to do it.”

What Will The Beth And Rip Yellowstone Spinoff Be About?

Paramount's "Yellowstone" Season 5 Part 2 Premiere

FilmMagic
The Yellowstone series finale sets the stage for a possible Beth and Rip spinoff. Beth purchases a new ranch for herself and Rip, located 40 miles west of Dillon, Montana—far removed from airports, tourists, and land developers who might encroach on their peace.

As for Kayce, he decides to start his own brand and is shown buying cattle with his son Tate. The final scenes depict both Kayce and Beth embracing their fresh starts: Kayce at the former Yellowstone’s East Camp and Beth with Rip in their new home.

As we wait for official confirmation from Paramount about the spinoff, Reilly bid farewell to the main series on Instagram. “Whatever the future holds this is the ending of the show we have been making for the past 7 years,” she wrote after the finale.