Here’s what to know about Kevin Costner, Kelly Reilly, and more while you anxiously await the rest of season 5.
As with Breaking Bad and The Sopranos, American viewers have once again chosen to embrace a show featuring a cast of villains. Yellowstone, the most-watched broadcast TV series of its time, has gripped a national audience with its epic Western themes, soapy family drama, and an eager willingness to go to extremes.
For generations, the Dutton clan has built Yellowstone into the largest contiguous ranch in the United States, and they’ll do anything to protect it — up to (and including) murder. The power struggles over the family’s land have powered the show through years of shocking plot twists, featuring John Dutton (Kevin Costner) and his children, Kayce (Luke Grimes), Beth (Kelly Reilly), and Jamie (Wes Bentley).
But fans have been left hanging during an extended mid-season break. Paramount announced in November 2023 that the show will conclude with season 5, which is partially complete; the second half won’t arrive until November 2024.
Fortunately, showrunner Taylor Sheridan has more stories planned, including a new spinoff set in 1944. The saga will also continue in a sequel series called 2024, featuring Matthew McConaughey and actors from the original program.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Yellowstone cast.
Kevin Costner (John Dutton)
Kevin Costner, who plays patriarch John Dutton, joined the show thinking that it would be a single 10-episode series, but Yellowstone’s popularity has kept him on the ranch for five seasons.
Costner has been an A-list star since the late ’80s, headlining a string of hits including The Untouchables (1987), Bull Durham (1988), Field of Dreams (1989), The Bodyguard (1992), and Dances With Wolves (1990), the latter of which earned him Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director.
Yellowstone continues Costner’s long-time interest in life in the West. “I don’t think of it as a modern Western, I think of it as modern-day ranching,” he told EW in 2019. “The themes out in the country will always be a draw to me. It’s not ‘Here he goes again.’ That area of our country is still alive [and] contemporary.”
For the last several years, Costner has been working on his own Western epic, Horizon: An American Saga. The story, which takes place around the time of the American Civil War, will be split into multiple films; the first chapter is scheduled for release in June 2024.
Unfortunately, there’s been some friction around Costner’s schedule splitting his time between Yellowstone and Horizon, leading to his premature exit from the series in 2023 ahead of season 5B.
His personal life has been in turmoil lately as well. In September 2023, Costner divorced his estranged wife, Christine Baumgartner, after 18 years of marriage.
Costner has seven children from several relationships. From his first marriage to Cindy Silva, he has three children named Joe, Lily, and Annie. He also has a son, Liam, with Bridget Rooney. His second marriage to Baumgartner brought about three more children: sons Cayden Wyatt and Hayes Logan, and daughter Grace Avery.
