Everything we know about 'Yellowstone' season 5 part 2, including whether Kevin Costner will be back

• A new trailer for "Yellowstone" season five, part two has been released.

• After being hit by several production setbacks, the Paramount Network series will return on November 10.

• There's a question mark over whether Kevin Costner will reprise his role as protagonist John Dutton.

It's official: "Yellowstone" will be wrapping up its final season in November, exactly two years after the first half of season five began airing.

The series, co-created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, centers on John Dutton (Kevin Costner), an aging rancher who spends his life maintaining and protecting his family's land and legacy in the face of myriad threats.

The first eight episodes of season five began airing on the Paramount Network in late 2022 before the cliffhanger midseason finale dropped on January 1, 2023.

Since then, fans of the series have been desperately waiting to find out what happens next — but the show has faced setback after setback.

First, reports of a falling out between Costner and Sheridan suggested the show would be coming to a premature end with what has aired so far because the two couldn't agree on the shooting schedule for new episodes.

Paramount then announced "Yellowstone" would officially conclude with the second half of the fifth season, which was scheduled to air in the fall of 2023. However, the Hollywood writers' strike that began in May and the actors' strike in July delayed production further.

On May 20, Paramount announced that "Yellowstone" had begun filming in Montana. And on June 20, the network confirmed that the Dutton family saga will come to a close this year, with the final batch of episodes set to premiere on November 10.

Here's everything we know about "Yellowstone" season 5, part 2 so far.

It looks as if Kevin Costner will reprise his role as John Dutton despite cutting ties with the show.

Over the last year, the 69-year-old actor has made it abundantly clear that he had cut ties with "Yellowstone."

So it may have taken fans by surprise that he does, in fact, appear in the trailer for the upcoming second half of season five.

The actor has previously said he's not been able to fit filming new episodes of the show into his schedule, so the scenes he appears in may have been filmed in 2022 before Costner's highly publicized spat with the show's creator.

The Hollywood Reporter said in June that Costner was still unattached to the new batch of episodes when filming began in May, which is further evidence that the scenes he appears in may have been shot for the first half of season five but ended up on the cutting room floor for whatever reason.

Representatives for Costner as well as the production companies behind the series, MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios, did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

The rest of the main cast will be returning, with the new generation of Duttons taking center stage.

There may be a question mark hovering around Costner's status on the show, but most of the rest of the cast is returning.

Audiences can expect to see John's business-minded daughter Beth (Kelly Reilly), his adopted lawyer son Jamie (Wes Bentley), and the youngest and most wayward of the siblings, Kayce (Luke Grimes), all back at the ranch.

Alongside them are his right-hand man Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser), daughter-in-law Monica (Kelsey Asbille), one-time girlfriend Lynelle Perry (Wendy Moniz), and long-standing adversary Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham).

Lastly, there's the ragtag group of ranch hands who make the Dutton spread what it is: Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith), Ryan (Ian Bohen), Teeter (Jennifer Landon), and Walker (Ryan Bingham).

One notable absence from the trailers and first-look photos is Summer Higgins (Piper Perabo), the animal rights activist who John was dating before the mid-season break.

Interestingly, Reilly, Grimes, and Hauser requested significant pay increases for their return, per a report from Puck's Matthew Belloni.

Paramount and 101 Studios are said to have pushed back on the proposed new salaries, which come close to the $1.3 million per episode Costner was paid during the first half of season five. No update has been given about their salary negotiations since February 2024.

Taylor Sheridan has hinted that "Yellowstone" will end with John Dutton's demise.

In a June 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the series cocreator hinted that the ending of "Yellowstone" will see Costner's character killed off.

Sheridan said that the "Field of Dreams" star's decision to leave the show "truncates the closure of his character," but added that the character's fate and the ending of the show had been planned since the early days of "Yellowstone."

Even before it was revealed that Costner has a "moral death" clause in his "Yellowstone" contract that prevents his character from dying in a way that would be embarrassing, Sheridan made it clear that John wouldn't be meeting his maker in that particular way.

Sheridan said audiences won't see John die in a conveniently timed car crash, like Patrick Dempsey's character on "Grey's Anatomy," or his own on "Sons of Anarchy."

"I don't do fuck-you car crashes," the "Wind River" director said of the technique often employed by writers as a way to kill off characters amid behind-the-scenes tension.

Given that Sheridan's original plan was to have John die at the end of season one, it seems like a good guess that the show would end with that happening.

The second half of season five could be longer than originally announced.

It's understood that the second half of season five will consist of six episodes.

However, while speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about the show's final run, Sheridan revealed that the number of episodes is not set in stone and that should it take more than six episodes to conclude the story, that wouldn't be an issue with Paramount bosses.

"If I think it takes 10 episodes to wrap it up, they'll give me 10," he said. "It'll be as long as it needs to be."

Kelly Reilly has predicted that her character, Beth, will somehow lose Rip.

In a featurette clip that appears on the Blu-ray and DVD release of "Yellowstone" season five, part one, Reilly spoke about where she sees her character's storyline going and cast doubt on Beth and Rip's (Cole Hauser) future together.

"Beth is haunted by her past. She has a lot of regrets and she has a lot of secrets that he doesn't know," Reilly said. "So there is something that is under the surface that will one day, I'm sure, come, and she's probably certain that she will lose him."

Reilly added that Beth feels "immense guilt" over the fact that she will never be able to have biological children with Rip, since her adopted brother Jamie (Wes Bentley) accidentally had a doctor give her a hysterectomy as a teenager, leaving her infertile for the rest of her life.

"She cannot switch that part of herself off," Reilly said, adding that "there's a tremendous sadness in that."

Reilly predicted that this storyline is "coming home to roost," and that Rip discovering this family secret could have dire consequences for not only Jamie but his and Beth's relationship too.

Luke Grimes has said his character Kayce will "step up" in the upcoming episodes.

As John's last surviving legitimate son, Kayce (Luke Grimes) is the obvious choice to inherit the sprawling cattle ranch.

According to Grimes, the fact that John asked Kayce to take over the day-to-day running of Yellowstone in the midseason finale suggests some exciting new developments in the upcoming episodes.

"I think this a huge moment for Kayce," Grimes said. "It's his legacy, and I'm honestly really excited about this chapter for Kayce and Monica, because I think we're going to see a whole different side to them."

"Obviously it's going to put him in a position where he has to take on a lot more than he probably has been comfortable with," he continued. "With what John's got to go do, it's time for Kayce to step up."

Costner previously said that John's decision to step into the world of politics will continue to play out in future episodes.

Costner also spoke about where the storylines are heading following season five's midseason finale.

In a Blu-ray and DVD featurette, Costner said that John's decision to step into the world of politics and become governor of Montana "provides a little bit of drama" that will continue to play out in future episodes.

"He's not a very good politician. He's a one-term politician, admittedly, so that makes him a little bit dicey for people to deal with," Costner said, adding that the career pivot makes sense for his character because John would do anything to preserve his land and his legacy.

"John has proven time and again that there's nothing he won't do to save the ranch even if that means in the twilight of his life, he takes a miserable job that's going to dominate him for four years," the actor said. "He didn't want it to be that way, but that's the way it was."

Stars of the show say the conclusion of "Yellowstone" could be bittersweet, but it could also be the "best series finale in history."

Reilly predicted how the show will end, but emphasized she doesn't "have any insight into what's going to happen," as Sheridan has not shared scripts with her.

"The main theme of protecting and sustaining this way of life in this land is the bottom of everything," Reilly said in a behind-the-scenes clip. "So I don't know which way it's going to go, but we're in season five, and who knows what's in store."

She said of the show's conclusion: "Though it will probably be beautiful and epic, I'm not sure it will be happy."

Her costar, Ian Bohen, recently echoed this last sentiment while speaking to Entertainment Tonight. Asked about the final run, he said: "The fans are going to get the [best] conclusion that could possibly be written."

He added: "I don't know that any show has finished this strongly, ever. We're expecting to have the best series finale in history. Overconfident maybe, but I think that's what it's going to be. We thank everyone for their patience. It'll be worth the wait, I promise."

The remaining episodes of "Yellowstone" will begin airing in November 2024.

Paramount announced that season five, part two of "Yellowstone" will begin airing on November 10 on Paramount Network.

The series finale could wind up on screens on Super Bowl Sunday, according to one of the show's actors.

CBS has also acquired the rights to run previous seasons of the Montana-set series and, by doing so, has attracted millions more viewers.

Paramount has also greenlighted two spinoff series, "1994" and "The Madison" (previously titled "2024"), both of which will be produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios.

There is a possibility that this actually isn't the end of "Yellowstone" after all.

While it was initially billed that this would be the "epic final cycle" of the flagship series, it has been reported that Sheridan may not be putting "Yellowstone" out to pasture after all.

Industry newsletter Puck reported earlier this year that the show was looking for a way to retain fan favorites, Reilly and Hauser. According to Deadline, as of August 2024, negotiations were underway for a sixth season of the show, which would be headlined by the pair.

Representatives for Reilly, Hauser, Sheridan, and the show itself did not respond to a request for comment sent by Business Insider.

Sheridan has already showcased his talent for spinning a long yarn out of the "Yellowstone" franchise, having already created two prequel series with more franchise expansions on the way.

Check out the trailer for "Yellowstone" season 5, part 2 here:

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