Everyone’s favorite cowboy drama, Yellowstone, will soon give audiences one final sunset at the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch as we know it, as the core series of Taylor Sheridan‘s Yellowverse is set to conclude with episodes beginning in November of 2024.
Say it ain’t so.
Variety reported the news, alongside the announcement that two new spinoffs are on the horizon. While an ever-growing Yellowverse undoubtedly puts a smile on our faces, I, for one, am not prepared to say goodbye to the show that started it all. How does one prepare to part with a show as multifaceted and romantically told as Yellowstone?
Okay, so maybe fans have had some time to come to terms with the fact that the Dutton realm, as we know it, will soon undergo a change of epic proportions as the core series breathes its final breath. Season five, which brings the series to an end at least two seasons too soon, as explained by Cole Hauser, will see a conclusion to this chapter of the Dutton story, but it’s only a piece of the story that’s ending — and there’s a bit of solace to be found in that.
Chris McCarthy, preside and CEO of Showtime & MTV Entertainment Studios, shared the following message with Variety regarding Yellowstone‘s end:
“Within five years, we grew ‘Yellowstone’ from a hit U.S. cable show with five million viewers into a global hit franchise with over 100 million fans around the world and multiple extensions – and, we’re just getting started. On the heels of ‘1883’ and ‘1923’s’ success, our new planned spinoffs, ‘1944’ and ‘2024,’ will take audiences on a thrilling, new and unexpected journey with the complex and compelling storytelling that has become a hallmark of the franchise and has helped turn it into a worldwide cultural phenomenon – thanks to the creative mastermind of Taylor Sheridan.”
A worldwide cultural phenomenon almost seems too bare a term to describe what Yellowstone has given fans; it’s brought different pieces of our own family lineage together to bond over storylines. We’ve seen characters our parents and grandparents can relate to, and we’ve fallen in love with the idea that a hard day’s work, a life-altering love, and a meadow with a little whiskey might just be the cure-all our tired hearts have been yearning for. Oh, and a hefty dose of Rip Wheeler.
The Dutton family is too layered with a story far too complex to end just yet, but it’ll be strange not to see our beloved characters as we know them now, in this stage of life, with these integral building blocks of a universe we’ve all grown to love so much. With spinoffs 1944 and 2024 on the horizon, we’re holding out hope that we’ve still got a lot of life left with some of our favorite Duttons.
If I may be so forward in taking a page out of my The Walking Dead fan days (which are still a thing), let me say this: if Rip dies (or if we’ve seen the last of Rip, Beth, or Kayce), we riot!
