Yellowstone Season 5 has officially kicked off production

As the season finale of Yellowstone‘s fourth season pulled in over 15 million viewers, I might be one of the few who haven’t yet checked out Paramount’s hit western series. I should probably get on that soon as production on Yellowstone season 5 has officially begun in Montana.

Yellowstone follows “the Dutton family, led by John Dutton (Kevin Costner), who controls the largest contiguous ranch in the United States. The ranch is under constant attack by those it borders—land developers, an Indian reservation, and United States of America’s first National Park.” Kevin Costner has returned for Yellowstone season 5, along with Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, Cole Hauser, Kelsey Asbille, Brecken Merrill, Jefferson White, Forrie Smith, Denim Richards, Ian Bohen, Finn Little, Ryan Bingham, and Gil Birmingham. Jen Landon and Kathryn Kelly will also be returning and have been dumped up to series regulars. The new season will be the biggest yet as it will be split into two installments of seven episodes each.

After relatively humble beginnings, Yellowstone has exploded in popularity over the past few years. We’ve already seen a prequel series, 1883, and there are several more spinoffs in development. As for why fans love the series so much, Kevin Costner told E! Online that “[Sheridan] has written dialogue that sometimes we wish would come out of our mouth when we’re challenged. So, there’s that great dialogue…and then if you take that dialogue…and you put it against mountains and rivers and horses running, there’s an appeal there.” The temptation to keep a popular series going is strong, but Yellowstone actor Luke Grimes recently said that series co-creator Taylor Sheridan knows exactly how it will end when the time comes.

So Taylor and I have this understanding that he knows how this thing ends for everyone. He knows how it ends for Kayce, and he’s known since he wrote the beginning. He actually said that he knew the end first. I’ve actually really gotten into the idea of never knowing how this ends until I get to read that last script. It’d be a great payoff as an actor to go through the journey. But Taylor and I sat down and he told me just enough about what those two paths looked like and just enough about that statement. It wasn’t enough that I know what’s going to happen or where he goes from here, but it was enough that I could say that line and have an idea of what I was talking about.

Yellowstone season 5 doesn’t have an official release date yet, but we’ll let you know when one is announced.