No One Expected This: The Jaw-Dropping Turn in Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2

Yellowstone season 5, part 2 arrived in November 2024, and serves as the last season of the beloved hit series. Audiences cannot get enough of the acclaimed contemporary Western series by Taylor Sheridan, which has been a major success for streaming platform Paramount+. In fact, Yellowstone has already inspired two series spinoffs: 1883 and 1923, period dramas that serve as prequels to Yellowstone, and several other follow-ups are in the works to continue the tale as well.

Yellowstone season 5, part 1 ended dangerously for the Dutton family. The ranch hands make their way to the Four Sixes in Texas to save their cattle, leaving Kayce in charge. Meanwhile, in a twist to Beth and Jamie’s rivalry in Yellowstone, Jamie gets the upper hand when threatening to reveal John’s involvement in multiple murders. Anticipating his family’s moves, Jamie gets help from Sarah Atwood, who convinces Jamie to hire assassins. It sets the stage for an intense showdown in the final chapter of the series, and season 5 part 2 promised to be Yellowstone‘s most shocking yet.

Latest Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 Critical Reception

The Final Half Of The Final Season Got Mixed Reviews

Because season 5 was fractured into two disparate parts, it’s hard to fully assess how well the season was received on the whole. However, season 5b was controversial to say the least, and the finale of Yellowstone (season 5, episode 14) was just as divisive. While the season itself maintains a respectable score on Rotten Tomatoes from critics, reviews for the finale episode were largely negative, with many lambasting the sloppy conclusion. The best that Vulture could muster was that it was “bad in a comfortable, predictable way,” which is the consensus.

Though there is still much confusion surrounding the fate of the flagship show, the finale of Yellowstone season 5b was billed as the end of the trail.

Screen Rant echoed many of the sentiments found in other reviews, and described the last episode as “disappointing” in its mishandling of its emotionally weighty ideas. Though there is still much confusion surrounding the fate of the flagship show, the finale of Yellowstone season 5b was billed as the end of the trail. Unfortunately, that trail seemingly only led to a dead end.

Yellowstone will officially continue with a spinoff starring Kelly Reilly’s Beth and Cole Hauser’s Rip Wheeler, and the show already hinted at it.

Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 Cast

Who Returned For The Final Episodes Of Yellowstone?

Costner laid out his reasons for leaving the show, but his absence from season 5b certainly weighed everything down.

Everyone in the main cast of Yellowstone season 5, part 1 returned for part 2, with one notable exception. Beth (Kelly Reilly), Jamie (Wes Bentley), Kayce (Luke Grimes), and Monica Dutton (Kelsey Asbille) reprised their respective roles, but Kevin Costner did not return as patriarch, John Dutton. Costner laid out his reasons for leaving the show, but his absence from season 5b certainly weighed everything down.

Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 Trailer

Watch The Trailers Below

Paramount released a brief teaser a few months before the debut of Yellowstone season 5 part 2 on their official Instagram account. The clip shows Rip stalking through the ranch with a gun before finally entering the Dutton mansion. Little actual footage from the season is used, but the teaser is clearly trying to signal the violent and bloody conclusion that has been building since season 1.

Just days after the first teaser was released, the Yellowstone official Instagram account dropped a second short trailer. Like its predecessor, the second teaser remains vague, and is made up of clips of the Dutton family mansion that are punctuated by narration from the main characters. What the trailer truly highlights is the absence of Costner’s John Dutton, and it seems to suggest the patriarch may die during the the second half of season 5.

In the same week as the first two teasers were released, a third trailer for Yellowstone season 5 part 2 has debuted which teases even more chaos. Opening with footage of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton talking about his family’s rich history of ranching, the teaser then hints that infighting and family strife may finally tear the Duttons apart.

After a long string of teaser trailers, Paramount finally released a full trailer for Yellowstone season 5 part 2 in late October. Using existing footage of Costner’s John Dutton to highlight the generational nature of the story, the trailer returns to some of the most heated feuds in the series. Kayce makes a blood pact with Thomas Rainwater, Rip gets his hands dirty doing Dutton family business, and Jamie exchanges a few violent words with Beth. All this points to an explosive conclusion for the popular neo-Western.

Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 Ending & Spoiler

The Dutton Story Ended On A Flat Note

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though it didn’t have much to say, the finale did at least allow things to change, which is what an ending needs to do for a show like Yellowstone.

The conclusion of Yellowstone season 5b is perhaps the ending of the entire series, and it certainly had a conclusive tone even if things were predictable. All the major storylines were given a sense of conclusion, and it’s clear that the chapter has been closed for better or worse. Revenge was attained, wrongs were righted, and though it didn’t have much to say, the finale did at least allow things to change, which is what an ending needs to do for a show like Yellowstone. However, it’s not entirely clear if the story is really over, even if the flagship show concludes.

Yellowstone season 5 concluded on December 15, 2024.

Yellowstone’s Future Setup Explained

There Are Plans In Place For More

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Besides the prequel series (1883 and 1923), the future of the Yellowstone franchise is already being written as well. Though the 6666 spinoff has been languishing in no man’s land for quite some time, it has been revealed that a spinoff involving Rip and Beth is already in the works with Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser set to reprise their roles. While many details are still unknown about the aforementioned continuation, the ending of Yellowstone season 5b perhaps offers a few clues about what happens next.