Yellowstone season 5 star Kevin Costner in character as John Dutton

‘Yellowstone’ Finally Drops the Season 5 Trailer — Did It Confirm This Popular Fan Theory?

Showbiz Cheat Sheet has been speculating for months that ‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 may include a time jump, and the trailer just confirmed it.

by Perry Carpenter

Published on October 4, 2022

2 min read

The ‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 trailer showed a lot, but revealed little

All of the Yellowstone favorites are back again for season 5 — including stars Kevin Costner (John Dutton), Kelly Reilly (Beth Dutton), Luke Grimes (Kayce Dutton), Wes Bentley (Jamie Dutton), Cole Hauser (Rip Wheeler), and Kelsey Asbille (Monica Dutton).

Each one showed up in the promo, along with the familiar ranch hands, members of the Broken Rock Reservation, and all of the Dutton enemies. The quickly-edited, action-packed video promised plenty of drama and violence before ending with the caption, “Power has a price. What are the Duttons willing to pay?”

The trailer confirmed a popular fan theory

Showbiz Cheat Sheet has previously speculated — along with plenty of fans — that there would be a time jump between seasons 4 and 5. And, the trailer confirms that’s exactly what has happened.

Season 4 ended with John Dutton announcing his candidacy for Montana governor, and the new season will begin with the ranch owner having just been elected. At least a year will have passed in between the seasons, and it’s clear that John will be relentless and do whatever it takes to get his way. That includes firing everyone in the governor’s office and hiring his daughter as chief of staff.

The time jump started to become clear after executive producer David Glasser told TV Insider that “episode one will immediately surprise everybody — where our story starts and what has happened.”

When Forrie J. Smith (Lloyd Pierce) showed up in Houston at a gala for the animal charity PetSet, he told KPRC2 Houston that “everybody’s gonna be going, ‘what the hell?’” when the new season begins.

There’s also the fact that stars Brecken Merrill (Tate Dutton) and Finn Little (Carter) have grown tremendously in the 18-month filming break between seasons — with Little being almost unrecognizable.

Things get more difficult for the Duttons in ‘Yellowstone’ season 5

Reilly almost leaked the time jump during an interview with Vulture this past June, but stopped herself just in time. She was explaining that when John came up with the idea of running for governor in season 4, it was a light-switch moment for Beth. And, she noted that her character never expected her father to make this move because he’s “certainly not a politician.”

“But Beth understands this will be the way she can manipulate power in order to shut down the airport and shut down Market Equities. So when he — I don’t know if I’m allowed to tell you that,” Reilly said, before the interview asked if John becomes governor.

“I will say as the kingdom gets bigger, it becomes more difficult to manage. In a strange way, at the beginning of season five, Beth is probably at her most powerful. But how she toes the line of that is going to be interesting.”