Ever since we heard the rumor that Matthew McConaughey would potentially be starring as the lead in a Yellowstone spinoff series, fans have eagerly been awaiting confirmation.
And so far…. we have none.
Don’t get me wrong, conversations have been had, the interest from McConaughey is there, and the premise, dubbed 2024, a continuation of the modern-day Dutton story, is set in stone, but as of right now, we have zero confirmation that Matthew McConaughey will star in the series.
Last year, co-creator Taylor Sheridan sat down with The Hollywood Reporter, and discussed why McConaughey is a perfect fit for the Yellowstone universe:
“He seems like a natural fit. We had a few conversations over the years, and spit-balled a few ideas. Then he started watching Yellowstone and responded to it. He was like, ‘I want to do that.’
And by ‘that’ he meant diving into a raw world clashing up against the modern world. And then I said, ‘Buddy, that we can do.’”
Sheridan also hinted that the new spinoff series could feature an entire new cast and location, despite rumors that much of the original Yellowstone cast would be returning.
He said:
“My idea of a spinoff is the same as my idea of a prequel… read into that what you will.”
Of course, both of the prequels 1883 and 1923 featured an entire new group of stars, so that could possibly mean the same for the McConaughey spinoff.
However there might be a problem…
McConaughey’s Price Tag
Matthew McConaughey’s price tag might be too high for Taylor Sheridan and company.
According to RadarOnline (so take that with a grain of salt), McConaughey wants upwards of $2.5 million dollars PER EPISODE. That’s nearly double the $1.3 million Kevin Costner was getting per episode and more than double Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren’s $1 million per episode.
“Matthew and his team know he’s the number one creative choice for the post-Kevin version of Yellowstone that’s being planned, but Paramount is dragging its feet on his $2.5 million per episode asking price… and there’s a real possibility Matthew will just move on.”
Granted, they’re probably going to need a massive A-lister like McConaughey to fill the shoes of Costner and keep the interest in the series alive, but that’s a pretty penny for a television show.
And once again, this probably isn’t the most reliable of sources, but nevertheless, I imagine the asking price is pretty damn high. McConaughey earned $200,000 per episode for HBO’s True Detective back in 2014, and while the TV landscape has a changed a lot in the past 10 years (with plenty of A-listers doing television now), that is a massive jump in price.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see how it all shakes out…
The Future Of Yellowstone
While we can’t confirm McConaughey’s participation, we DO know that Yellowstone Season 5 will be the final season of the flagship series, essentially bringing about the end of a show that is arguably the most popular thing on television. We also know that there is way more to come.
According to Deadline, Paramount has confirmed that another Yellowstone prequel series is in the works, titled 1944. The previously announced contemporary spinoff series (rumored to star Matthew McConaughey) will follow suit with the working title of 2024.
Set to premiere following the conclusion of Yellowstone, 2024 will feature a new cast, as well as some of the original cast of Yellowstone, to carry forward the modern day Dutton story.
Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 will premiere in November of 2024, with 2024 set to premiere after. The second and final season of 1923 should also be premiering sometime in 2024 as well, or possibly early 2025.
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Mapping Out The Dutton Family Tree
1883:
James Dutton
The original patriarch of the Dutton Family, James (Tim McGraw) was a farmer from Tennessee who took his family out west in search of a new life. The husband of Margaret Dutton and father of Elsa, John and Spencer, he chose to establish the modern day Dutton Ranch where his daughter Elsa passed away.
Margaret Dutton
The original matriarch of the Dutton Family, Margaret (Faith Hill) is married to James Dutton and the mother of Elsa, John and Spencer Dutton.
Elsa Dutton
Elsa (Isabel May) was the eldest child of James and Margaret Dutton. She also serves as the narrator of both 1883 and 1923. She was going to marry a cowboy named Ennis, however, he was killed on the journey West. She vowed to return to a Comanche warrior named Sam once her family reached its destination, however she was killed in an attack on the wagon train. The Dutton Ranch property was established where she died, and she was the first to be buried there.
John Dutton
John Dutton (Audie Rick in 1883, James Badge Dale in 1923) is the son of James and Margaret Dutton, brother to Elsa and Spencer. He was just a young boy during the events of 1883, however in 1923, he works alongside his uncle Jacob on the Dutton Ranch. He is married to Emma Dutton, and they have at least one son, Jack. John is tragically killed (in 1923) during an attack from Banner Creighton and his men.
Claire Dutton
Claire (Dawn Olivieri) is James Dutton’s sister, who joins the journey west with her daughter Mary Abel. A widow, she kills herself once her daughter is killed on the trail.
1923
Jacob Dutton
Jacob (Harrison Ford) is the brother of James Dutton, who becomes the leader of the family once James passes away. He and his wife, Cara Dutton, work to run the ranch with their nephews, John and Spencer, and John’s son Jack.
Cara Dutton
Cara (Helen Mirren) is the wife of Jacob Dutton. A hard-nosed Irish immigrant, she becomes the matriarch of the Dutton family in 1923, following the passing of Margaret and James.
Spencer Dutton
Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) is the second son of James and Margaret Dutton. Born after the Duttons settled in Montana (and the death of his sister, Elsa), Spencer is a WWI vet who spends time hunting in Africa before returning back to Montana to work the ranch.
Emma Dutton
Emma (Marley Shelton) is the wife of John Dutton Sr. and the mother of Jack Dutton. Perhaps even more tragically, she kills herself following the death of her husband John.
Jack Dutton
Jack (Darren Mann) works on the Dutton Ranch alongside his father, John Dutton Sr. and great-uncle, Jacob Dutton. He is engaged to Elizabeth Strafford, the daughter of another notable rancher.
My suspicion is that Jack may be the father of John Dutton II since the “II” title is generally used when the child is named after another relative, not the father. My initial guess was that John Dutton won’t survive 1923 (and he didn’t), and Jack will name his first born son after his late father… John Dutton II. Elizabeth gets pregnant in the first season of 1923, although she sadly miscarries.
That being said, I maintain my hunch that the line runs through Jack.
Elizabeth Strafford-Dutton
Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph) is Jack’s fiancée. The two end up postponing their wedding briefly, but are planning on marrying very soon.
Alexandra Dutton
An extremely wealthy English socialite, she leaves her fiancé, the the son of the Earl of Sussex, in Africa and runs away with Spencer Dutton. The pair are married at sea on their way back to Montana, and could be the couple where the Dutton line runs through. Alex was sea sick on the boat, but could it be morning sickness? I suppose it is possible but like I said above, my hunch is still Jack.
Either way, the line runs through Jack and Emma, or it runs through Spencer and Alex…. we’ll see.
Yellowstone
John Dutton III
The modern day leader of the Dutton family and the current Governor of Montana. He is the father of Lee Dutton, Beth Dutton and Kayce Dutton, and the adoptive father of Jamie Dutton.
Evelyn Dutton
Evelyn (Gretchen Mol) is the wife of John Dutton III who passed away in a horseback riding accident when her children were young. She is the mother of Lee, Beth and Kayce Dutton.
Lee Dutton
Lee (Dave Annable) is the oldest son of John and Evelyn Dutton. The heir to the Dutton Ranch, Lee was killed by Robert Long (Monica’s brother) after an argument broke out over stolen cattle.
Beth Dutton
Beth (Kelly Reilly) is the daughter of John Dutton III and wife of Rip Wheeler, her father’s ranch foreman and right-hand man. Unable to have children of her own, her and Rip have taken in teenage Carter.
Rip Wheeler
Rip (Cole Hauser) is the Yellowstone foreman and right-hand man of John Dutton III. He came to the Dutton Ranch as an orphaned teenager after he killed his own father (who killed his mother and brother). Teenage sweethearts, he eventually marries John’s daughter, Beth Dutton.
Kayce Dutton
Kayce (Luke Grimes) is the youngest of the Dutton siblings, and a former Navy SEAL. He’s married to Monica Dutton and the father of Tate Dutton and John Dutton IV (deceased).
Monica Dutton
Monica (Kelsea Asbille) was raised on the Broken Rock Reservation. She is married to Kayce Dutton and the mother of Tate Dutton and John Dutton IV.
Tate Dutton
Tate (Brecken Merrill) is the oldest son of Kayce and Monica Dutton, the eldest of the 7th generation of Duttons.
John Dutton IV
John Dutton IV is the second son of Kayce and Monica Dutton, who tragically only lived a few hours following complications from an early birth and a car accident.
Jamie Dutton
Jamie (Wes Bentley) is the adopted son of John Dutton III and the black sheep of the Dutton family.
Christina
Christina is Jamie’s ex assistant and the mother of his child.
James Dutton Jr.
The son of Jamie Dutton and his ex-girlfriend Christina, Jamie finds out he has a son after the birth.
Additional Characters in 1923:
Jerome Flynn, AKA Bronn from Game Of Thrones, will play Banner Creighton, a hard-nosed Scottish brogue and the leader of the local sheep men. Sounds like he has the makings of the bad guy?
Robert Patrick takes on the role of Sheriff William McDowell, a friend to the Dutton family.
Brian Geraghty will play a loyal ranch foreman in the show.
Aminah Nieves will play Teonna Rainwater, a young woman who lives at a government residential boarding school. Judging by the last name, she’s probably related to Thomas Rainwater from Yellowstone.
Julia Schlaepfer will play Alexandra, a British woman who meets one of the Duttons while abroad.
Jennifer Ehle will play Sister Mary O’Connor, an Irish nun.
Former James Bond actor Timothy Dalton will play Donald Whitfield, a “wealthy and nefarious” man who seems to be a Dutton Family enemy.
7 Generations
In that 1893 flashback from Yellowstone Season 4, we see that James has two sons with him, John Sr. (who will be a major character in 1923) and Spencer… Generation Two.
They should be in their forties or so by the time 1923 rolls around and will have children of their own (Generation Three), and John Sr. and Spencer might even have young grandchildren (people got married pretty young back then), so that’s Generation Four.
Now, here’s where it get’s interesting… John Dutton III (born sometime in the 1950s) of Yellowstone would be Generation Five, which means Kayce, Jamie (adopted), the late Lee Dutton, and Beth Dutton would all be Generation Six, and young Tate would be Generation 7.
And that’s exactly what Tim McGraw himself has confirmed.
Tim says he plays the great-great-grandfather of John Dutton in the bonus Blu-ray content:
“I play John Dutton’s great-great-grandfather. Our family is the first to discover Yellowstone and settle it. And in doing that, we are the first to really defend it and fight people off, and try to establish it and then survive.
J.D.’s the patriarch of the family. He’s the guy that had the balls, I guess, to set out and take his family across the country and head up to Montana, and sorta settle this unknown land, this untamed land up there, and turn it into something.”
Of course, which generation of Dutton has implications for the show because in the Season Finale of 1883, Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) is on the verge of death and her father, James Dutton (Tim McGraw) needs to find a place to bury her because wherever they bury her body is where the Dutton family is going to settle.
So Spotted Eagle, a Crow elder, recommends a spot called the Paradise Valley.
But, there’s a catch… the Duttons can’t have it forever.
“Yes, Paradise. Good name. But you know this: that in seven generations, my people will rise up and take it back from you.”
To which James says:
“In seven generations, you can have it.”
Doesn’t bode well for the Dutton family in Yellowstone Season 5, does it?
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