Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 Filming Start Date Confirmed

Some unfortunate behind-the-scenes drama and a pair of industry-wide strikes forced Taylor Sheridan and the "Yellowstone" production team to press the pause button on the back half run of Season 5 for most of 2023. But with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes officially settled, production is finally ramping back up, with recent reports confirming the series is set to premiere its final run of episodes in November 2024. And with the release window for said episodes settled, we've now learned the cast and crew of "Yellowstone" are expected to be back on set for filming sometime in the late spring of 2024.

The Hollywood Reporter confirmed the start date, noting that Sheridan — who's written or co-written every single episode of "Yellowstone" to date — got back to writing the final batch of screenplays as soon as the writers' strike ended. It remains to be seen how many of those scripts have been completed, but given the production timeline, it seems likely he's pretty far along in the process.

There has, however, been no official announcement regarding how many episodes of "Yellowstone" fans can expect to see in that final run. But given how many narrative threads were left dangling in the 5th mid-season finale, Sheridan has some serious work to do in bringing the show to a satisfactory close. Nonetheless, with the start date of production officially on the books, "Yellowstone" should have no trouble getting the final episodes in the can ahead of that November debut.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the forthcoming run of "Yellowstone" episodes will close the door on the series as we know it. The truncated ending is also reportedly the result of the very public fallout between the show's production and its longtime star, Kevin Costner.

As fans of the series no doubt recall, the mid-season finale teed up a major showdown over the Montana governorship between Costner's John Dutton and his wayward adopted son Jamie. This storyline was presumably set to feature prominently throughout the second half of Season 5. But that's very much in question as it remains unclear if Costner will even be back for the final stretch of "Yellowstone" episodes. The actor's status in the cast is even more in question given his recent assertions that he's no longer under contract for the series. 

Given the narrative stakes alone, Taylor Sheridan was already staring down a mammoth task in crafting a worthy end to "Yellowstone." Said task is understandably even more difficult if he's forging ahead without Costner fronting the cast. The series is, after all, centered almost entirely around John Dutton's efforts to keep his coveted ranching lands in the hands of his family — even as some (namely Jamie) are bent on selling them to the highest bidder. It's almost unfathomable to think Sheridan may be forced to end the story in Costner's — and thus John's — absence. And it should be fascinating to see what Sheridan comes up with, should that be the case.