If you’re a “Yellowstone” fan you know there’s been nothing but drama surrounding the show for nearly two years now. At the beginning in 2023, in a shocker of news, it was reported that “Yellowstone,” the most popular show on television was ending suddenly because of problems with Kevin Costnerand the series’ showrunner Taylor Sheridan. The idea at the time was Matthew McConaughey would step in for a new and related spin-off show.
READ MORE: ‘Yellowstone’: Stars Kelly Reilly & Cole Hauser To Return For Season 6 Of The Popular Show
But plans change, McConaughey’s participation never materialized, the spin-off, “The Madison,” with Kurt Russell and Michelle Pfeiffer, became its own thing, and then suddenly, a sixth season of “Yellowstone” was announced starring Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly (and presumably much of the same cast).
But to hear it directly from them, Reilly and Hauser who we interviewed this week, more “Yellowstone” seems up in the air and this part two of season five is an ending (something which Reilly also suggested in a recent New York Times interview).
The season is mysterious, but could Reilly and Hauser tease any of it? They did say the series was “intense,” and kept suggesting there some finality to it all.
“It’s very intense,” Reilly said, to which Hauser chuckled and vehemently agreed. “It’s an intense season, it’s a very emotional season, there’s a lot at stake, everyone is feeling it and we’re hoping it comes to a point where people are satisfied with the ending that he’s written because we are.”
“It’s not what you think it is either,” Hauser said, jumping in. “The great thing about Taylor and what he’s done this season is as soon as you think it’s going one way, it takes a hard right or a hard left, and there’s so many different ways that he’s created this last season to give you on the edge of your seat.”
So, to that end, I asked, if “Yellowstone” continues will they be on board? The answer was an assured yes, but it doesn’t sound like anything is planned at the moment.
“If Taylor wants to write more, we’re both there,” Reilly said. “It’s what we’ve said, so it’s entirely up to his inspiration, if that’s something that moves him to write it, because that’s how ‘Yellowstone’ came about. It wasn’t just a, ‘Well, how do we just keep this going?’ It’s many, many years of coming up with this story and these characters and it’s not found easily or lightly. So if we want to carry on making a show that we’re really proud of and people really love it has to have the same emotional kind of quality to it.”“I think there’s more story to be told with some of the characters,” she continued. “But there’s also a great way to leave them. So right now it’s up to the gods.”
“To echo what Kelly said, it would only be Taylor and Taylor only,” Hauser said about if he would continue on with any spin-off or show. “If he has the love and passion to write something special for Kelly and I, and it comes across the desk, I would be happy to entertain it.”
When I asked “Yellowstone” cast member Gil Birmingham, who plays the Native Indian Chief Thomas Rainwater, if he would be game for returning to the series if it continues, he gave an emphatic yes.
“Oh, I love this character, I absolutely would,” he remarked. “I think we all would. We’ve talked about what we would do pretty much across the board, everyone of the actors said, ‘We would do this thing as long as Taylor wanted to write for it.”
Birmingham has perhaps a special perspective with Sheridan as he’s been working with him way before “Yellowstone,” a strong supporting role alongside Jeff Bridges in the Academy Award-nominated “Hell Or High Water” (2016) and another strong supporting role opposite Jeremy Renner in “Wind River” (2017).
“I think Taylor’s a phenomenon, myself,” he explained. “I gathered that from the first time I read the work. Any well-done project that’s going to hold up over time and informs people of a different world—that’s what Taylor’s great at, building a world.”
“Every since ‘Hell or High Water’—Taylor told me about ‘Yellowstone’ back then,” Birmingham continued. “He said he’d already written, you know, however many seasons, and he said, ‘I wrote this character, for you,’ and I said, ‘Tell me when and where.’ And of course, you never know what the success of any show is going to be, but it built over season to season, so he’s a real angel for me.
“Yellowstone” season five, part two, episode one airs this Sunday, November 10 on Paramount Network.