New ‘Yellowstone’ Spin-Off Starring Matthew McConaughey To Move Forward At Paramount As Costner’s Future Uncertain
There appears to be some drama off-screen at Paramount’s massive ‘Yellowstone‘ franchise, as a new spin-off series is set to move forward at the US broadcaster with Matthew McConaughey lined up for the leading role. However, the future of the main show (or rather, who will be in it) is currently uncertain.
For those of you who haven’t been following events behind-the-scenes at the drama, let me give you a recap… According to reports back in February, ‘Yellowstone’ star Kevin Costner has been upset over the schedule behind the series, putting him at odds with the franchise’s creator and showrunner, Taylor Sheridan. Costner has allegedly said he only wants to shoot for one week on the second half of season five, which consists of six episodes (compared to the 50 days scheduled on the 8 episodes of Season 5, part 1). This is presumably due to Costner also working on his own passion project, a western called ‘Horizon’. Given he is supposed to be the main star of the series, you can see why Sheridan was annoyed by that. It has been described as a “source of frustration” for Sheridan and was allegedly “causing morale problems with [Costner’s] co-stars.” Negotiations are described as “ongoing”, but the show was supposed to return to filming in March, and it didn’t.
Costner’s attorneys called the reports “an absolute lie”, saying the actor is “incredibly passionate about the show”. However, skip forward to this weekend, and the main cast and crew, including Costner and Sheridan, were supposed to appear for a panel at PaleyFest in LA. Following a screening of the seventh episode of season five, the assembled fans were told the line-up had changed due to “scheduling conflicts”, so now would consist of Mo Brings Plenty (Mo), Dawn Olivieri (Sarah Atwood), Josh Lucas (younger John Dutton) and Wendy Moniz (Lynelle Perry), alongside the President of Scripted at MTV Entertainment Studios, Keith Cox. It’s fair to say, fans were not best pleased, although did give a warm reception to those who had turned up.
Now, in an interview with THR, President and CEO of Showtime, Chris McCarthy, has said that a spin-off, led by Matthew McConaughey is set to go ahead, regardless of whether they get Costner to return to the main show. Unlike a lot of the previous spin-offs, which have been set in different time periods, this would be present-day and could take some of the cast from the main show.
There is currently no update on exactly when ‘Yellowstone’ will return to filming, but it is expected to continue with or without Costner involved. However, McCarthy did say that the main show “wouldn’t be what it is today without Kevin and we hope that that stays for a long time to come.” We’ll have to wait and see how this all plays out.
‘Yellowstone‘ can be found on Paramount+ in the UK. If you want to keep track of this or any other show, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.
