In 2013, Sheridan began work on the series, having recently grown tired of acting, and switched to screenwriting. Having lived in the rural parts of states such as Texas and Wyoming, Sheridan set the series in Montana and the first episodes inLivingston. Sheridan initially pitched the series toHBO, but the network declined. In May 2017, Paramount Network announced that it hadgreenlit its first scripted series,Yellowstone, and that it would be written, directed, and executive-produced by Sheridan.
The series became the first in theYellowstone franchise that includes both the prequel series1883 (2021–2022) and1923 (2022–2025) and the upcoming sequel seriesThe Madison andY: Marshals, while multiple other spin-offs remain in various stages of development.
The series follows the Dutton family, owners of the largest cattle ranch inMontana, the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch (located inDarby), commonly called "the Yellowstone". The plot revolves around family drama at the ranch and the bordering Broken RockIndian Reservation,Yellowstone National Park, and land developers.[1]
In 2013, having grown tired of acting,Taylor Sheridan began work on the series and writing screenplays. Having lived in the rural parts of states such as Texas and Wyoming, he set the series in Montana and went about writing the first scripts inLivingston.[2] Sheridan originally wroteYellowstone as a film, pitching it as "The Godfather in Montana".[3] He initially pitched the series toHBO, but the network declined.[4]
In May 2017, Paramount Network announced that it had greenlit its first scripted series,Yellowstone. Paramount issued a series order for a first season consisting of ten episodes. The series was set to be written, directed, and executive-produced by Sheridan. Other executive producers were to includeJohn Linson,Art Linson,Harvey Weinstein, andDavid C. Glasser. Production companies involved with the series were set to consist of Linson Entertainment andThe Weinstein Company.[1]
In October 2017, it was announced that following reports ofsexual abuse allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein, his name would be removed from the series' credits as would The Weinstein Company.[5] In January 2018, Kevin Kay, president of Paramount Network, clarified during the annualTelevision Critics Association's winter press tour thatYellowstone will not have The Weinstein Company's credits or logo on them, even though that company was involved in production. He stated that their intent is to replace Weinstein Television with the company's new name in the show's credits when available.[6] That same day, it was announced that the series would premiere on June 20, 2018.[7]
In July 2018, it was announced that Paramount Network had renewed the series for a second season that was expected to premiere in 2019.[8] In March 2019, it was announced that the second season would premiere on June 19, 2019.[9] In June 2019, the series was renewed by Paramount for a third season, which premiered on June 21, 2020.[10][11] In February 2020, Paramount Network renewed the series for a fourth season, ahead of the premiere of its third season.[12] The fourth season premiered on November 7, 2021.[13] In February 2022, Paramount Network renewed the series for a fifth season, which was split into two installments.[14][15][16] The fifth season premiered on November 13, 2022.[17] In May 2023, Paramount announced that Costner would be leaving the series at the end of Part 1 of Season 5. The second part of the fifth and final season premiered on November 10, 2024.[18][19]
In November 2017, it was announced thatMichaela Conlin andJosh Lucas had been added to the cast in recurring roles.[29][30] In December 2017, it was reported thatHeather Hemmens was joining the cast in a recurring capacity.[31] In June 2018, it was announced thatBarret Swatek had been cast in a recurring role.[32] In September 2018, it was announced thatNeal McDonough was joining the cast of season two in a recurring capacity.[33] In July 2021, it was announced thatJacki Weaver,Piper Perabo, Kathryn Kelly and Finn Little were joining the cast in the fourth season.[34] In February 2022, it was announced alongside the fifth season renewal thatJennifer Landon and Kelly were promoted to series regulars for the season.[15]
In August 2017, Oscar-nominated costume designerRuth E. Carter joined the production team, but soon departed at the end of the first season.[35] Designer Johnetta Boone then joined the production crew for the start of the second season.[36]
Principal photography for the series began in August 2017 at theChief Joseph Ranch nearDarby, Montana, which stands in as the home of John Dutton. Filming also took place that month nearPark City, Utah. The production used all three soundstages at the Utah Film Studios in Park City, which is a total of 45,000 square feet. The building also houses offices, editing, a wardrobe department and construction shops. By November 2017, the series had filmed in more than twenty locations in Utah, including the Salt Flats, Promontory Club, andSpanish Fork. Additionally, filming also took place at various locations in Montana. Production reportedly lasted until December 2017.[37][38]
In August 2020, the series announced that filming was completely moved toMontana. An undisclosed production location was rented inMissoula, Montana.[39] Film locations included the Community Medical Center, Ryman Street near the County Courthouse, and a diner (Ruby's Cafe) on Brooks Street in Missoula, as well as places in nearbyHamilton, Montana.[40]
Filming for season 5 started in June 2022 in Missoula.[41] In May 2023, filming Season 5 Part 2 was delayed due to theWriters Guild of America strike, due to pick back up in April 2024.
Filming of the "log mansion" home of John Dutton[42] is at the main house of the Chief Joseph Ranch, which is now aguest ranch just south of Darby.[43]
The house has alog cabin motif and was dubbed "log mansion" byThe New York Times.[45] It has been compared in style to theOld Faithful Inn which opened in 1904 and is 294 driving miles[46] away inYellowstone National Park. TheTimes described it as "A diverse combination of arches, gables and dormers, set off by logs placed vertically and horizontally, adds an elegance to log-home design that is seldom seen."[45]
The complex includes three large barns built to houseHolstein cattle. It was claimed it was the largest dairy herd west of the Mississippi River. Ford later gave up the dairy cattle and began raisingHereford cattle.[47] After Ford died, his wife and daughter operated it as a guest house. They sold it in 1952. It went through a series of new owners who renamed it forChief Joseph who is said to have passed through its area during theNez Perce War.Mel Pervais, a member of theOjibwa Nation, owned it from 1987 to 2004.
The series' score was composed byBrian Tyler. He worked with musicians from theLondon Philharmonia Orchestra and viola, cello, and violin soloists. On August 17, 2018, the soundtrack for the first season was released bySony Music.[48]The main theme melody is virtually identical to that of the 1970 hit single 'Sympathy' by UK prog rock groupRare Bird. Later on, Breton Vivian who composed additional music in season 1 & 2, has joined with Brian Tyler to score music for season three to five.Lakeshore Records has released the season 2 through the season 5 soundtracks.
A teaser trailer for the series was released on February 28, 2018,[49] with the first full trailer being released on April 26.[50] On June 25, 2018, the series held a screening at Seriesfest, an annual international television festival, at theRed Rocks Amphitheater nearDenver, Colorado.[51][52] The first season was released on Blu-ray and DVD on December 4, 2018, byParamount Home Media Distribution (under the Paramount Network label). After their Paramount Network premieres, CMT began reairing the fifth season on Fridays.[53] On July 17, 2023, following theSAG-AFTRA strike,CBS announced that edited episodes of the series would air on its Fall 2023 schedule.[54]
NBCUniversal'sPeacock acquired the American streaming rights toYellowstone in 2020, with the first two seasons debuting in July of that year.[55]Paramount Global President and CEOBob Bakish have since called the timing of the deal "unfortunate", due to the show's improved reception, viewership, and popularity in its later seasons. Critics have noted thatYellowstone's absence from Paramount's own, similarly named streaming service,Paramount+ (in-spite of the show's spin-offs being produced for the service), in addition to current seasons previously being available on Paramount Network's app and website primarily throughTV Everywhere (requiring a paid television subscription), have caused confusion among viewers and the show's fans onsocial media.[56][57]
Full episodes and seasons ofYellowstone are available for purchase on all major digital entertainment distribution stores in the United States, withAmazon'sPrime Video streaming new episodes in Canada the day after their American broadcast on Paramount Network.[58] Starting with the fifth season, it will be moved to Paramount+ in Canada,[59] and the UK,[60] and toSkyShowtime in any territories where the service is already available.[61] As with the previous seasons in Canada, new episodes will be released the day after the American airing.
Viewership of the series has grown with subsequent seasons.[62] The season 3 premiere attracted 7.6 million viewers, and the season 4 premiere tallied 12.7 million viewers.[4] The season 5 premiere garnered 12.1 million viewers.[63] The show has been called a "Heartland drama"[63] and "red state" drama,[64][65][66] a label which Sheridan himself disputes.[4]
Following its premiere, the show was met with a mixed response from critics.Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the first season a score of 54 out of 100 based on 27 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[67] On thereview aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes, the first season holds a 56% approval rating, with an average rating of 5.8/10 based on 52 reviews. The website's critical consensus of the first season reads, "Yellowstone proves too melodramatic to be taken seriously, diminishing the effects of the talented cast and beautiful backdrops."[68]
The second season holds an approval rating of 89%, based on 9 reviews.[69] The third season holds an approval rating of 100% based on reviews from 7 critics.[70] The fourth season holds a 91% approval rating based on reviews from 11 critics. The critical consensus for that season reads, "Hitting its stride as a predictably unpredictableoat opera,Yellowstone continues to entertain with its tough-as-rawhide characters and modernized perspective on classic cowboy tropes."[71] The fifth season earned an 79% approval rating based on 62 reviews. The critical consensus for that season reads, "Galloping into the arena of politics with a decidedly nonpartisan bent,Yellowstone enters uncertain territory but remains firmly in the saddle, with Kevin Costner's steadfast presence remaining an invaluable asset."[72]
Native American actorLily Gladstone described the series' portrayal of Native Americans as "delusional" and "deplorable" in an interview withVulture. She added, "No offense to the Native talent in that. I auditioned several times. That's what we had."[73] An associate professor of history,Liza Black, criticized the series and wrote that "Yellowstone's subtext is another thing entirely: the settler-colonial version of American history, which offers didactics on human nature rather than confronting the history of Native peoples". Black adds that "Sheridan erases the history between Natives and settlers, turning Montana into a place of brute force with no national past". She was also critical of the series' depiction of Native American women in particular, noting that "Yellowstone takes the historical reality and distorts it to make white women the victims."[74]
Yellowstone has spawned an extensiveextended franchise consisting ofprequels,sequels, andspin-offs. The first two prequels,1883 and1923 take place in the titular years after which the series are named; the former explores how the Dutton's originally traveled to Montana, while the latter focuses on a generation of the family during western expansion.[93][94]1883 spanned ten episodes and released onParamount+ from December 19, 2021 to February 27, 2022[95][96][13] It was initially announced that1883 itself would spin-off into another series titled1883: The Bass Reeves Story. This was however, later reworked into a standalone program and retitledLawmen: Bass Reeves.[97]1923 spanned two seasons of eight episodes each, and was also released on Paramount+ between December 18, 2022 and April 6, 2025.[98][99] Sheridan has also been working on two further prequels set in the 1940s and 1960s.[100] Following the conclusion of1923,1944 was reported to be in active development.[101]
Following the planned departure of Costner fromYellowstone a spin-off series with the working title2024[19] was announced as being in development.[102][18] This series later became known asThe Madison. Production began in August 2024, with filming taking place in Montana, New York, and Texas.[103]Luke Grimes as well asKelly Reilly andCole Hauser signed on to lead separate sequels centered around their characters. Grimes' was ordered to series asY: Marshals and will air onCBS in early 2026. It will focus on Kaycee becoming aU.S. Marshal. Birmingham, Plenty, and Merrill are also reprising their roles.[104][105] Reilly and Hauser are set to star inThe Dutton Ranch, along with Finn Little.[106][107][108] Another series in development since February 2021 is6666, set in Texas on theFour Sixes Ranch.[109]
^"2021 LMGI AWARDS NOMINEES".Location Managers Guild International. September 29, 2021.Archived from the original on May 25, 2022. RetrievedOctober 25, 2021.
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