How Yellowstone Fans Really Feel About The 1883 And 6666 Spinoffs
With its jaw-dropping ratings and dedicated fanbase, it's no surprise that the "Yellowstone" universe is expanding. The popular Western drama follows the Dutton family's Montana ranching business as they reckon with outside groups and increasingly dangerous enemies.
The two spin-offs, "1883" and "6666," will continue adding to the Dutton family's story. The former, a prequel to the original series, recently premiered on Paramount+ and features a star-studded cast, including country musicians Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. Meanwhile, little is known about what "6666" will entail at the moment, but "Yellowstone" has seemingly been setting the foundation for what's to come. Ranch hand Jimmy Hurdstram (Jefferson White) is currently working at the 6666 Ranch in Texas after being sent away by John to learn more discipline following a near-fatal injury. With a flirty love interest and a shocking new gig for Jimmy, it seems the upcoming series will explore another side of life on a ranch.
Given the success of "Yellowstone," it would be fair to assume that fans are excited about the new additions. However, some on the show's subreddit have expressed otherwise.
Fans feel like they're being forced to watch the spin-offs
A thread started by u/xXsavagewulfXx pointed out how the storylines in Season 4 of "Yellowstone" have been overtaken by promotions and plot set-ups for the spin-offs. The Redditor took a promotional image of the original show and overlayed it with stills related to "1883 and "6666" in a critique of the episode "No Kindness for the Coward," which opened with a scene from the "1883," and featured multiple commercial breaks advertising the prequel.
"I feel like I maybe saw 15 minutes of Yellowstone. Maybe 15 minutes," reads the top comment from u/Underdogga. With more than 100 upvotes, fans seem to agree that the focus on the spin-offs during the latest episode took away from the show they actually sat down to watch.
"You would think they make $1883/episode from the amount of commercials they threw in this episode," exclaimed u/BrainEuphoria.
In a similar thread, u/sthork123 wrote, "Heaven forbid we get more than 10 [minutes] of Yellowstone content in an episode of Yellowstone. This s***s getting old real quick."
"Bold move using the opening 5 minutes to play a scene from an entirely different show," replied u/Heavy-Shop-4574. "The absurdity is astounding."
With criticism aimed at the marketing of the spin-off series rather than the content itself, we'll just have to wait and see if the spin-offs garner the same success as "Yellowstone."