If you’ve been watching entertainment outlets the past several months, you know it’s been a long, hard road for Taylor Sheridan and the “Yellowstone” creative team to get the back half of Season 5 before cameras. It was quite disheartening to see alleged behind-the-scenes dustups reshape how Sheridan and company approached the end of the series as we know it. But once things settled, it looked like the final run of episodes was set to shoot sooner rather than later, with “Yellowstone” bosses eyeing a November 2023 release.
Alas, it’s looking more and more like the show may not make that release window, with Luke Grimes telling People filming has yet to begin. The “Yellowstone” star admitted as much while promoting his new Netflix rom-com, “Happiness for Beginners,” and delivered the fateful update when asked if filming had started. The actor answered bluntly, “We have not, because of the writers’ strike.” Thus, “Yellowstone” is the latest Hollywood production to go on hiatus while the WGA and SAG-AFTRA try to work out a mutually beneficial deal with studios to get everyone back to work.
According to Grimes, had the strike not happened, the “Yellowstone” team would probably be hard at work in Montana. “I think we would be [filming] if it weren’t for that,” he posited, adding, “But that [strike] takes precedence over everything.”
Grimes promises plenty of juicy drama for Yellowstone’s final run of episodes
Though it’s not surprising “Yellowstone” is on hiatus due to the ongoing strikes, fans desperate to find out how the series will end are undoubtedly disappointed filming on the final episodes hasn’t even started. Given that there appears to be no deal in sight for creatives and studios, it’s becoming more likely viewers won’t see those episodes until sometime in 2024 at the earliest.
Paramount Network has yet to make any announcement about the “Yellowstone” Season 5 release date shifting, so there’s still hope Sheridan can bring the final episodes in on time. Whatever the case, Luke Grimes has assured during an interview with ET Online that those episodes will be worth the wait. It seems things are only going to get trickier for Grimes’ Kayce Dutton and his family. “Love and family and serve your tribe, your people — that’s a huge theme in the show,” he said, noting that Kayce’s struggle between allegiances to his wife and son and his father will remain a key point in the drama.
Grimes goes on to say such drama will be as enticing as ever in the final episodes. “That’s sort of where you get all of this really juicy drama, is that everyone is sort of fighting for their team,” he said, continuing, “There’s no right team or wrong team, it’s just a bunch of people trying to figure out how to do what’s best for their own.” And it should be fascinating to watch the Duttons navigate their intertwined dramas en route to the series finale.
