The Dutton family drama may not be ending with season five.
Despite Paramount+ previously announcing the end of Taylor Sheridan’s hit show, Yellowstone, Deadline confirmed that ‘negotiations are underway for a sixth season.’
Although sources emphasized that the deal is still up in the air, the upcoming episodes would focus on Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser, who play Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler, following Kevin Costner‘s dramatic exit from the neo-Western drama.
This comes after the on-screen couple were reportedly in talks of joining the Yellowstone spinoff The Madison, starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
In April, when asked about the possibility of a sixth season, Reilly told RadioTimes: ‘I just care about finishing [Yellowstone] with as much care and as much passion and as much love as I can muster to put into it… I’m sort of prepping for that now, [and] that’s my tunnel-vision thing that I care about most.’
‘And what goes on beyond that? There are discussions, you know. Don’t believe everything you read. It’s just nonsense,’ she continued.
5B, which premieres on November 10, was originally announced as Yellowstone‘s last installment.
Fans were quick to react to the news on X as they called for Costner’s return.
‘Without Kelvin Costner it will be boring,’ one predicted.
Another tweeted: ‘There is no Yellowstone without Kevin Costner.’
‘Wonder how it will do without him – since he was the main star,’ a third asked.
Others, however, called for Hauser and Reilly to just get their ‘own show’ already.
‘If we get a season six with Beth and Rip I’ll contently sit in front of my tv for hours,’ a superfan gushed.
In June, Costner confirmed that he was done with Yellowstone for good.
The 69-year-old actor told his Instagram followers that he would not returning for an appearance for season 5B.
‘Hi everyone. I just want to reach out and let you know that after this long year and a half of working on Horizon and doing all the things that’s required, and thinking about Yellowstone — that beloved series that I love, that I know you love — I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue Season 5b or into the future,’ Costner announced somberly while gazing into the camera.
Previous reports indicated that Costner was likely done for good with the series after conflicts between himself and producers over pay, his schedule and his availability to film his multi-part Western epic Horizon: An American Saga.
But fans held out hope that he might at least return to find a dignified ending for his patriarch John Dutton III, but his new video has seemingly dashed those hopes for good.
‘It was something that really changed me,’ Costner said of the Paramount Network series.
‘I loved it, and I know you loved it,’ he reiterated. ‘I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning.’
The actor and director concluded with what may have been an entreaty for his fans to see his upcoming Horizon films.
‘I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop, and I’ll see you at the movies,’ he said as a slight smile crossed his lips.
The announcement means that Costner’s final run of episodes were for season 5A, which aired from November of 2022 to January of 2023.
His character, the patriarch of the Dutton family, ran the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, a fictional ranch that was the largest in Montana.
It bordered Yellowstone National Park and the Broken Rock Indian Reservation, which often put the wealthy family at odds with their Native American neighbors and greedy developers looking to snatch up their land.
The primetime soap has been particularly popular among fans who applauded its so-called anti-woke politics, though the series is often critical of its main family, who have murdered multiple people to secure their land and fortune.
Before shutting the door on the possibility of returning for season 5B, Costner butted heads against producers, as he reportedly wanted to shoot fewer days for the season to accommodate filming of Horizon.
Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter One was released in theaters on June 28.
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Its sequel will be released September 7, 2024.
He has already begun film Chapter Three, and already stated that he plans to films Chapter Four concurrently.
Costner has disputed reports of the nature of his disagreements over Yellowstone, and he complained that the show’s producers declined to defend him amid reports he disagreed with.
The actor has also denied that his issues with the series were due to his Horizon filming schedule.
He has said that he was ready to return to film season 5B, but the scripts for the second half of the season had allegedly not been written in time.
Some fans and critics have pointed the finger and showrunner and co-creator Taylor Sheridan, who has written all of the show’s scripts since season three.
He is also the showrunner, writer and director of multiple Yellowstone spinoffs, as well as several other shows he has created for Paramount and its streaming service Paramount+, leading some to suggest that he has stretched himself too thin, which led him to allegedly fail to produce scripts in time for Costner to film the second half of season five.
Sheridan has disputed that he is too busy due to his multiples shows and other projects.
Costner also had the additional aggravation during his downtime of his divorce from his wife Christine Baumgartner, during which the two battled in court of their prenuptial agreement and financial support she was requesting.