Special Guest Kurt Russell attends the screening of 'Escape from New York' at the 2019 TCM 10th Annual Classic Film Festival on April 13, 2019 in Hollywood, California

Kurt Russell May Just Be the Latest A-Lister Added to the ‘Yellowstone-verse’

A new rumor claims that Kurt Russell will be the latest A-lister to join the ‘Yellowstone-verse,’ in a present-day spinoff of Taylor Sheridan’s Neo-western megahit.

by Perry Carpenter

Published on February 19, 2023

2 min read

Is Kurt Russell leading a new ‘Yellowstone’ spinoff?

A new report from Giant Freakin Robot is claiming that Kurt Russell has signed on as the lead of yet another Yellowstone spinoff that will be set in the present day. However, this isn’t the already-in-development 6666 spinoff set at the Four Sixes Ranch in Texas. Instead, Russell’s rumored series is assumed to be “an offshoot of the existing mainline Yellowstone story.”

This has not been confirmed by anyone at Paramount, but it does build on another report from Deadline that claims Kevin Costner (John Dutton) is on his way out of the flagship series. The Russell rumor is connected to the report that Costner will be exiting Yellowstone at the end of season 5 to make way for a new lead — Matthew McConaughey.

With Costner supposedly out after five seasons, the theory is that Sheridan is looking to “put together several shows that tie in the mainline Yellowstone drama” with other big names.

What will happen to Taylor Sheridan’s main ‘Yellowstone’ series?

The latest confirmed Yellowstone news is that Sheridan and Paramount are making moves to end the flagship series in its current form. Apparently, that means the exit of Costner’s character and a continuation of the Dutton saga with McConaughey in the cast.

It’s unclear which Yellowstone cast members will be part of the new version of the neo-western. But, the expectation is that the show’s biggest stars — like Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser, Wes Bentley, and Luke Grimes — will remain in the franchise. After all, any one of their characters could stake their claim as the new head of the Dutton family with John out of the picture.

Insiders claim that Costner — who originally was limited to shooting 65 days per season of Yellowstone — only wanted to shoot for 50 days for the first part of season 5. Then, he wanted to return for just one week to shoot his scenes for the second half.

Costner is currently directing and starring in his own western epic Horizon, and has seemingly made Yellowstone and John Dutton a low priority. Rumor has it, this has caused some moral problems on the Yellowstone set.

Could Kurt Russell be part of another generation of Duttons?

We should also mention that the Russell Yellowstone rumors could possibly be connected to the new report that another prequel has been greenlit — 1944. On the heels of 1883 and 1923, the new prequel is officially in the works after getting the go ahead from the network in early February.

“We’ve got 1923, we’ve got the sequel, we’re not letting the cat out of the bag, it’s going to be called 1944,” 101 Studios executive vice president Tom Prince told Ravalli Republic.

It’s possible that Russell might be part of that generation of Duttons instead of the present day. Fans will just have to wait and see what Sheridan has planned.