‘Yellowstone’ set to end after rest of Season 5 airs: sources

“Yellowstone” — the show that “reinvigorated” Kevin Costner’s career and sent sales of Stetsons soaring — is set to end after the second half of Season 5, multiple sources confirmed to The Post.

Right now, however, it’s not known when the show will air again. In fact, it’s not known when it will even film.

The show has been hit by claims that Costner, who plays powerful Montana patriarch John Dutton and won a Golden Globe for his work, won’t return amid a dispute with creator Taylor Sheridan.

“It’s the same as with any show runner and big star — there’s respect, but there’s friction,” a well-placed production source told The Post.

Meanwhile, a highly-placed Hollywood source who has worked with Sheridan confirmed there is an element of ego at play — but that it’s not necessarily Costner’s: “Taylor is the star of his show. He’s the most important person on all of his shows.”

Some 12.1 million fans watched the November 2022 premiere of the first half of Season 5, which ended in January, and they are now in a tense wait for the second chapter to drop on Peacock.

But production has not even been slated yet, and there is a Hollywood writers strike looming.

Nonetheless, said the production source, “We’re hoping it will be worked out. It’s too big a show for things not to be worked out. 

“Hopefully Kevin will return for the remaining episodes, if everyone works together, but it looks like ‘Yellowstone’ will end after this season.”

Another source who knows Sheridan added that he may be keeping his stars in the dark: “Only Taylor truly knows what what is going on.”

Sheridan, 52, started off his career acting in the FX series “Sons of Anarchy” and the CW’s “Veronica Mars,” before going on to write several films, including “Sicario” in 2015, and the Oscar-nominated “Hell or High Water” in 2016. He also co-created the Paramount hits “Mayor of Kingstown” (starring Jeremy Renner) and “Tulsa King” (starring Sylvester Stallone).

And he runs the “Yellowstone” spin-offs “1883,” with Sam Elliott, and “1923,” which stars Harrison Ford and Dame Helen Mirren.

The Hollywood source said that late-in-life success has fueled Sheridan’s ego.

“Taylor spent years not being truly appreciated in Hollywood,” the source said, “and now that he’s the top of the heap, there’s definitely some ego to all of this.

The off-screen drama began when “Yellowstone” took a break in January, with its mid-season finale.

In February, Deadline reported that Paramount, which owns the rights to the show, was in talks to extend the Dutton family saga with a new spinoff led by Matthew McConaughey.

The outlet also reported that Costner, 68, wanted to work on his own Western movie franchise, “Horizon” — and, as a result, refused to spend more than a single week filming the second half of Season 5.

Costner’s attorney Marty Singer quickly issued a denial, blasting the claim that his client was unwilling to work as “an absolute lie.”

Indeed, the Hollywood source said Costner was ready to shoot last year and again in January — but Sheridan had no scripts.

“Kevin’s been extremely cooperative with working with Taylor and his production company, 101 Studios. They were supposed to shoot the second chapter of Season 5 late last year, but they just didn’t have the scripts,” said the Hollywood source.

“Taylor is overburdened and Kevin made himself available at the beginning of the year, but again, nothing was ready,” the Hollywood source added. “Kevin had already committed to making his other movies. He had given the producers his schedule.

“In the entertainment industry, you can’t keep yourself in a holding pattern and available while the producers are not getting their act together with the scripts. There was nothing to shoot.”

A spokesperson for 101 Studios was unavailable for comment.

Earlier this month, Sheridan, Costner and several other “Yellowstone” stars were all notably absent from a PaleyFest panel in Hollywood at which they were set to appear. Keith Cox, president of development and production at Paramount Network, was in attendance and said that the network is “very confident [Costner]’s going to continue with our show.”

However, “Yellowstone” co-star Dawn Olivieri said: “Nothing is forever.”

Meanwhile, Paramount Media Networks head Chris McCarthy told the Hollywood Reporter that the McConaughey show is moving forward, regardless of whether Costner returns to the main series. He also said the streamer is working on close to a dozen projects with Sheridan.

As Puck reported, Peacock, the streaming service owned by NBC Universal, will retain the rights to “Yellowstone” until four years after the final episode airs, which is a hugely lucrative window.

The spinoff shows, however, stream only on Paramount+.

“Paramount doesn’t want ‘Yellowstone’ on the air for more than another year [and competing with their shows]. They’d prefer to have a new [Sheridan] show with Paramount+,” the Hollywood source said.

The “Yellowstone” spinoff “1883” goes back to a time when the Dutton family settled on the land that would become Yellowstone ranch, while “1923” picks up on that story 40 years later as the family faces famine and disease.

Costner’s upcoming four-film series, “Horizon, an American Saga,” has already filmed in the Moab area and will now move to southwestern Utah for its next two parts, according to the Utah Film Commission. The two films are also scheduled to film in various parts of Washington County this year.

Sources pointed out that the possible Hollywood writer’s strike may give Costner and Sheridan time to work things out.

A rep for Costner was unavailable.

But as the Hollywood source said: “It’s a great show for Kevin. It pays him a lot of money and it helped reinvigorate him.”