Yellowstone Season 6 is reportedly a possibility with Kelly Reilly‘s Beth Dutton and Cole Hauser‘s Rip Wheeler said to be the focus. Truly, if the show were to continue without Kevin Costner beyond Season 5, this was the only way to keep fans invested (if John Dutton’s departure hadn’t made them give up on the show already).
A new report from Puck News, an industry newsletter that was one of the earliest to report on the apparent rift between Costner and series creator/writer Taylor Sheridan, states that Yellowstone Season 6 will happen with Reilly and Hauser set to lead.
The series was previously announced to be ending with Season 5, and other reports said it was possible that Reilly and Hauser and Luke Grimes (Kacey Dutton) were in talks to reprise their roles in the new modern-day spinoff The Madison (which will star Michelle Pfeiffer, Matthew Fox, Patrick J. Adams, and Beau Garrett). The validity of those cameos are still to be determined, but it seems more possible that Beth and Rip could cross over into The Madison if they’re already leading their own series (both of these shows are set in Montana).
Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 premieres November 10 on Paramount Network, and the reports that Beth and Rip will carry the series forward from there paints the fates of other Yellowstone characters in a new light. Here’s what we think will happen to the rest of the Duttons and those in their sphere now that Yellowstone‘s story will seemingly continue.
What does Yellowstone Season 6 mean for John Dutton’s fate?
Given the fact that this is a report unconfirmed by Paramount as of the time of publication, we can only speculate on who will be involved in the sixth season. Costner, of course, likely won’t take part after having already confirmed his exit from the franchise. His departure was reportedly due to the fifth season being split into two parts.
Costner was in Season 5 Part 1, but Part 2’s filming schedule conflicted with his previously set schedule for his Western film franchise Horizon, which has since debuted its first installment to little box office return. Costner reportedly wanted to complete his Yellowstone character’s narrative arc in Season 5 Part 2, but he and the series couldn’t reach an agreement on how to solve the scheduling conflicts.
With that in mind, it seems all but confirmed that John Dutton III will be killed off in the new episodes later this year — and this likely would’ve been the case whether the show continues past Season 5 or not. It just wouldn’t be a satisfying end for the show’s main character to know that he’s off somewhere else and left his beloved family ranch behind.
Whatever happens to John will happen offscreen, but adopted son Jamie (Wes Bentley) was scheming with his girlfriend, Sarah (Dawn Olivieri) to kill his father and sister in the Season 5 Part 1 finale, and John and Beth were planning to take Jamie to the train station as well. It would make for good drama for Season 5 Part 2 to see Jamie succeed in killing his father (he killed his biological father already, proving he’s got the gumption to carry out such an act) and Beth and Rip spending the season seeking revenge against him for it.
What does Yellowstone Season 6 mean for Jamie Dutton’s fate?
Beth and Rip are the best characters to take the series forward, should it really be continuing. I previously theorized that Jamie or Beth will die in Season 5 Part 2, and while that was a theory based on the assumption that Part 2 was the final season, a major death is still the best setup for the potential Season 6.
Bentley’s name has not been mentioned in reports for the potential sixth season or as possible original cast cameos in The Madison. That absence is noteworthy, as it implies that Jamie can’t appear in future installments because the character won’t be around.
Should Yellowstone continue with Beth and Rip at the helm, the series needs to put Beth and Jamie’s series-long rivalry to bed by killing off Jamie. Beth has rightly hated her brother since they were teenagers, when Jamie had Beth sterilized after her abortion without her knowledge or consent (the teen was pregnant with Rip’s child). Let’s not forget that Rip still doesn’t know this. John found out in Season 5 Part 1, causing irreparable damage to their relationship, but it’s long overdue for Rip to find out and respond accordingly. Godspeed to anyone who gets in that cowboy’s way once he learns the truth.
While Jamie makes for the perfect villain for the series (family feuds are always juicy drama), their feud has gone on long enough. It’s time to see Beth and Rip avenge themselves and John by taking Jamie out, and their biggest threat to the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch so far along with him.
What does Yellowstone Season 6 mean for Kayce and Monica?
Kayce, Monica (Kelsey Asbille), and son Tate (Brecken Merrill) deserve distance from the drama of the ranch after years of suffering through their connection to it (Grimes also said he’s ready for the show to end). Kayce’s vision revealed that he saw “the end of us,” which could mean a lot of things. One interpretation is that the family is going to lose the ranch and land it has tended to for over a century, but that seems less likely now that Beth and Rip could be carrying on the family legacy in a sixth season. The “us” could also mean their own small family is getting away from the Dutton family history and the violence it engenders.
Kayce started Yellowstone disconnected from his father and siblings, having rejected them and life on the ranch in favor of a more peaceful life away with Monica, who didn’t have John’s seal of approval. Kayce and Monica have since reconciled their issues with the family while still maintaining a separate life by living off of the ranch. Season 5 Part 1 left the couple interested in expanding their family again following the traumatic car crash that caused Monica to miscarry.
Tate has been through his own traumatic experiences because of the family’s enemies as well, like when he was abducted in Season 2. Should Kayce and Monica have another baby, this would give them more reason to raise their kids away from the ranch.
It would make for a full-circle moment for Kayce and Monica to opt to leave the family business behind but on better terms than before, inspired by the massive emotional shift that would come with the deaths of the family patriarch and Jamie. This would still leave space for the characters to appear in Season 6 and The Madison while not being main characters.
These events would give Yellowstone Season 6 a clean slate to build a new story centered around the passionate newlyweds and their “adopted” son, Finn Little‘s Carter (the couple took the teen in as their own, but the adoption isn’t official). If Jamie is killed, they could take in his son as well.
What do you want to see in the potential Beth and Rip-led Yellowstone Season 6? Let us know in the comments below.
Yellowstone, Season 5 Part 2 Premiere, Sunday, November 10, 9/8c, Paramount Network