There’s no denying that fans are hungry for more Yellowstone. Even without Kevin Costner at the helm, there are still plenty of stories within this larger Western television universe worth telling. While Taylor Sheridan continues to expand on the Dutton’s past with prequels like 1923, audience members grow anxious for more stories about their modern-day counterparts. Now that a spin-off starring Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser is reportedly in development, it seems that those same fans may just get their wish. However, the spin-off’s connections to the flagship series may just stir up some trouble for the drama. If the Rip/Beth spin-off wants to succeed, it ought to take measures to ensure it’s more than just a simple continuation of the former Costner series.
‘Yellowstone’s Rip & Beth Spin-Off Should Serve as an Epilogue, Not a Continuation
While many are undoubtedly excited about seeing more of Beth, Rip, and (very likely) their surrogate son Carter (Finn Little), the spin-off series may run into a problem right out of the gate. The flagship Yellowstone series ended with “Life Is a Promise,” an episode which the network has officially referred to as a “season finale.” This change from calling the end of Yellowstone Season 5 a season finale rather than a series finale signifies that the Paramount Network intends for the story to continue. But with the disbanding of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, the death and burial of John Dutton (Costner), and the dispersing of both the land and the ranch hands who made the show what it is, any Rip and Beth continuation will be bogged by the open-ended questions Yellowstone left in its wake. More than likely, folks will expect the show to simply be Yellowstone Season 6.
What the show ought to do instead is serve more as an epilogue to the original series rather than a direct continuation. In branding itself as such, the spin-off will ensure that the audience knows exactly which characters will and won’t be returning. Centering itself entirely on the new life that Beth and Rip aim to build in small-town Montana, far from the cares and politics of Paradise Valley, will be better for the series in the long-run, and won’t lead to any confusion regarding the nature of the program. If this spin-off is simply meant to continue the show’s main narrative (which has essentially wrapped-up following the sixth season, anyway), then why not just continue Yellowstone into a sixth season? Instead, since this show has thus far been referred to as a spin-off, it should live up to that title in the same way that the upcoming The Madison series is set to.
Paramount’s Streaming Deal With Peacock Could Cause Potential Problems for ‘Yellowstone’
Of course, another reason that the Rip/Beth spin-off must further separate itself from the original Kevin Costner series is due to issues regarding streaming platforms. Because of the Paramount Network’s streaming deal with Peacock over the flagship series (the streamer currently holds exclusive streaming rights to Yellowstone in the U.S.), some have theorized that the Rip/Beth spin-off may actually be a way for the network to get around that deal. This would bring the main Yellowstone story back home under Paramount’s own streaming platform, Paramount+, and allow fans to view new episodes of the entire Yellowstone Universe (sans the original series) all in one place. Labeling the Rip/Beth show a spin-off would get around that deal, as this would be an entirely new show.
While some may still consider this spin-off essentially a sixth season of Yellowstone, the burden of proof would be on Paramount and Taylor Sheridan to prove that the Beth/Rip show is categorically unique compared to the original drama. Thus, it would be wise to structure this spin-off in a similar vein to the way that AMC’s The Walking Dead did with its own spin-off shows — such as The Walking Dead: Dead City, The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon, and The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Lives. Each of these spin-offs or continuations serves as unique epilogues to the original story, rather than playing as a direct continuation of the same plot and collection of characters. Considering the way Season 5 of Yellowstone ended, it should be fairly easy for the Beth/Rip series to do something similar.