“Yellowstone” season five, part two is just around the corner and premieres this Sunday, November 10. While no one knows for sure what happens in the Western family drama or where it goes, one thing that should be abundantly clear is that Kevin Costner, who plays the Yellowstone ranch patriarch John Dutton, is not part of the show.
We know this because, earlier this year, Costner and “Yellowstone” creator/showrunner/writer Taylor Sheridan had a major falling out over scheduling. The behind-the-scenes drama impasse essentially meant that season five part two went on without him and we know this because when “Yellowstone” season five started production earlier this summer, Costner was in Cannes premiering his own Western “Horizon: An American Saga,” the very film he and Sheridan butted heads over (Costner allegedly made the film his first priority, the “Yellowstone” second and this is where the bad blood started).
READ MORE: ‘Yellowstone’: Kevin Costner Confirms He’s Not Returning For The Final Episodes Of Season 5
Given Costner or John Dutton won’t appear in the series—at least not with any new footage—presumably the series opens with a death? Who knows, but a few things are clear: no screenings were given to press, even before the interviews, so all journalists, including myself were flying in blind and this likes to the secrets of episode one. Additionally, much of the cast doesn’t know anything either.
We spoke to some of the “Yellowstone” cast this week and Gil Birmingham, who plays the Native Indian Chief Thomas Rainwater, and he said the series was super secretive this year, all the scripts were redacted and he doesn’t know what happens this season.
I started by asking about what, if anything he could tease, about this second half of season five, underscoring it’s all a mystery to the press doing interviews.
“Well, it’s a mystery to most of us in the cast too, because we don’t know what the storyline is involving any of the other characters,” Birmingham explained. “We got these redacted scripts, so we only know the scenes our characters in particular filmed, but I don’t know what’s going on [elsewhere].”
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“This is the first season that [this mystery technique of shooting] happened, so we kind of felt like we were in the wilderness, some characters more so than others.”Speaking with Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly, who play Rip and Beth Dutton, their characters are so important to the story they were eventually allowed to know everything that happened, but some of it still a mystery to them too.
I began by saying that these interviews were tricky to conduct because press had not actually seen any of it.
“Nor have I, or Kelly,” Hauser said about getting a peek at an edit or any frame of footage for that matter. 
“Nobody has [seen anything],” Reilly added. “Yeah, there were redacted scripts, but finally we were able to get our hands on all of them because we had so much to do, there was a lot for Rip and Beth to do this season and we were able to read all of [the scripts]. The last episode we did not get until very, very late because that one was under very lock and key, understandably, the finale.
“But yes, there was a lot of secrecy and protection over it” she continued. “But a lot of it was because of the day and age we live in, trying to keep a secret, it’s just so hard, everyone wanted to know, there’s a lot of noise around our show and what’s going to happen and I think trying to protect the material and the work—I hope people understand why we tried to keep it quiet.”
This of course was unusual, and took some actors by surprise, but the cast banded together regardless in the end, knowing they were all in service of a big finish.
“It was a very different year from past years, obviously” Hauser admitted. “But we all came together, it’s an unbelievable family in Montana, whether it’s crew or cast, and in a way it was just like it was before—which is great work, everyone putting in the effort and time. Christina [Alexandra] Voros did an unbelievable job directing this year and I feel like we pulled it off.”
“Yellowstone” season five, part two, episode one airs this Sunday, November 10 on Paramount Network.