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.
Kurt Russell is the latest Hollywood A-lister to be the subject of Yellowstone rumors. A report has emerged claiming the Tombstone star will be leading a new, present-day spinoff in Taylor Sheridan’s ever-expanding Yellowstone-verse on Paramount+. Is there any truth to the claim?
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 final six episodes of Season 5 were originally scheduled to debut this summer, but the newest timeline (h/t Deadline) has production resuming in August, with Paramount Network eyeing a November 2023 release date.
While production has yet to begin on the show’s now-final episodes, court documents confirm that Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone contract has officially ended.
Sheridan said that the Costner’s decision to leave the show “truncates the closure of his character” but added that the character’s fate and the ending of the show had been planned out since the early days of Yellowstone.
However, there’s now a question if that death would have to occur off-screen if Costner does not return to set to film scenes given that he no longer has a legal obligation to do so.
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.
