Is Taylor Sheridan, the Creator of the 'Yellowstone' Universe, Also on Strike?

By Dustin Rowles | TV | May 4, 2023 |

By Dustin Rowles | TV | May 4, 2023 |

There is new reporting from Entertainment Tonight about Kevin Costner and the Yellowstone drama, but the ultimate takeaway is not new: Kevin Costner, according to ET’s sources, will not be returning to Yellowstone AFTER season five. This is not particularly new because last month, sources told The New York Post that Yellowstone would be ending after season five.

If Yellowstone is ending after season 5, it therefore follows that Kevin Costner would not be returning beyond season five.

None of these reports, however, answer the one question we’re actually interested in, which is: When will the rest of season five return? That’s difficult to answer because Taylor Sheridan and Kevin Costner apparently have not come to an understanding about when, if, and how long Costner will return for the last eight episodes. Until Sheridan knows to what extent he can use Costner, he can’t write the episodes. And now? There’s a writers’ strike, so presumably he can’t write the episodes anyway.

Or maybe he can.

It brings up an interesting question: Is Taylor Sheridan striking? One would hope so out of solidarity, but also: He’s paid well, he’s the only writer who writes episodes for Yellowstone, its spin-offs, and a few other shows coming down the pipeline, including Lioness with Zoe Saldana and Nicole Kidman. If Taylor Sheridan does strike, he could probably single-handedly apply a lot of pressure because Sheridan is essentially carrying Paramount+ and I don’t think he can write too far into the future because he’s so busy writing scripts for the present. Paramount+ relies on Taylor Sheridan for a constant output of scripts.

The writers, as I understand it, are essentially asking for $450 million in added compensation for 11,000 union members, which is the equivalent of writing off three Shazam 2s. The budget of two seasons of 1923 would work out to be around $450 million. Think of the millions of dollars that will be lost by delaying 1923, the back half of Yellowstone, and the Matthew McConaughey Yellowstone spin-off, another Sheridan series. Take the money Paramount+ would lose in that delay and pay it to the writers today and end the whole thing.

In the meantime, let’s hope that Sheridan isn’t a scab.