50 Fun Facts About Yellowstone TV Show

Yellowstone was created by John Linson and which writer, who also directed several episodes?

Taylor Sheridan began writing the show in 2013 because he had tired of acting after years of small television roles.

Yellowstone premiered in 2018 on Paramount Network, a channel known by what name until that January?

Spike was relaunched as Paramount Network in January 2018 as its owner pushed into original scripted series, and Yellowstone premiered there five months later.

Yellowstone's creator originally pitched the show as which crime classic 'in Montana'?

The Godfather in Montana was the pitch for a script first written as a movie, before the tale of a ranching dynasty grew into a series.

Which network turned Yellowstone down before Paramount Network picked it up?

HBO developed the show and then passed; its creator says an executive there told him the story 'feels so Middle America' and would be a step backward.

How does John Dutton die at the start of Yellowstone's final episodes?

Hired killers stage his death as a suicide, a twist written after the show's star left midway through the fifth season.

Who plays ranch patriarch John Dutton III in Yellowstone?

Kevin Costner left midway through the fifth season to focus on Horizon, the western film saga he was co-writing, directing and starring in.

The actor who plays John Dutton in Yellowstone won which award for the role in 2023?

A Golden Globe went to him in January 2023, but he missed the ceremony: flooding had closed the freeway near his Santa Barbara home, so Regina Hall accepted for him.

Which English actress plays Beth Dutton, John's sharp-tongued only daughter, in Yellowstone?

Kelly Reilly plays Beth as a financier who turns boardroom tactics on the ranch's enemies, short-selling one rival's company to ruin him.

Cole Hauser plays which loyal ranch foreman, raised by John Dutton and eventually married to Beth?

Rip Wheeler was taken in by the Duttons as a teenage runaway after he killed his father, who had murdered his mother and brother.

In Yellowstone, what was Kayce Dutton's military role before he came home to Montana?

Navy SEAL Kayce comes home not to the family ranch but to his wife's reservation, where he breaks horses for a living and keeps his distance from his father.

Wes Bentley plays Jamie Dutton, the lawyer-politician who differs from his siblings in what way?

He is adopted: the Duttons raised Jamie from infancy, and he spends the series trying, and failing, to win his father's approval.

In Yellowstone, who plays Garrett Randall, the ex-convict who turns Jamie against the Duttons?

Will Patton's Randall served time for murder, and once he reappears he steadily pulls Jamie away from John and the ranch.

Which of John Dutton's sons is killed in a gunfight early in Yellowstone's first season?

Lee, the eldest, dies in a clash over cattle that strayed onto reservation land, leaving the ranch without its expected heir.

In Yellowstone, Kayce's wife Monica grew up on which neighbouring reservation?

Broken Rock is a fictional reservation whose leaders want the Duttons' land back, which leaves Monica torn between her own people and her in-laws.

Gil Birmingham plays which tribal chief, alternately John Dutton's rival and ally?

Thomas Rainwater, who also runs casinos, wants to reclaim the land under the ranch for his people, so he and John clash until outsiders threaten them both.

In Yellowstone, what is the name of Kayce and Monica's son?

Tate is the child John sees as the ranch's real future, which leaves the boy caught between his father's loyalty to the ranch and his mother's distrust of it.

In Yellowstone, what is Dan Jenkins, an early adversary of John Dutton?

A billionaire land developer from California, Jenkins plans a casino close to the ranch, then ends up siding with John against a common enemy.

Which actor plays Malcolm Beck, one of the villainous Beck brothers in Yellowstone's second season?

Neal McDonough's Malcolm Beck runs a casino with his brother, and their threats push John, the tribal chief and a developer into an unlikely alliance.

In Yellowstone, which corporation, fronted by Roarke Morris and later Sarah Atwood, tries to seize the ranch?

Market Equities wants the valley for an airport and a ski resort, and Beth fights back by attacking its share price.

On Yellowstone, Jefferson White plays which bumbling ranch hand and amateur bronc rider?

Jimmy Hurdstrom keeps getting badly hurt riding broncs, so in season four John sends him away to work on a ranch in Texas.

Jimmy leaves the Yellowstone in season 4 to work at which famous Texas outfit?

The 6666 is a real working ranch in the Texas Panhandle, and the show's creator headed the group of buyers that purchased it.

Which musician plays Walker, the ex-convict ranch hand, on Yellowstone?

Ryan Bingham, who shared an Oscar for a Crazy Heart song, gets to sing on screen: Walker is a musician, and the show uses Bingham's own songs.

On Yellowstone, Forrie J. Smith plays which longest-serving ranch hand, at John's side for decades?

Lloyd Pierce is played by a former rodeo cowboy and film stuntman; in season four his feud with a rival in the bunkhouse boils over when Lloyd stabs him.

On Yellowstone, Jennifer Landon plays Teeter, the tough-talking ranch hand who dates which colleague?

Colby Mayfield and Teeter's on-off romance survives her being fired from the ranch and later rehired.

On Yellowstone, Finn Little plays Carter, a troubled orphan taken in by which Dutton?

Beth meets the boy outside a hospital where his father is dying, and brings him home to work on the ranch.

On Yellowstone, Wendy Moniz plays which Montana politician, John Dutton's ally and on-off love interest?

Lynelle Perry repeatedly uses her office to get John out of legal trouble, and makes it plain that she is tired of doing so.

At the start of Yellowstone's fifth season, John Dutton is sworn in to which political office?

Governor of Montana is a job he takes only to protect the ranch, using the office against the developers who want his land.

Which actor plays the young John Dutton in Yellowstone's 1990s flashbacks?

Josh Lucas plays the 1990s John in flashbacks built around the 1997 death of his wife Evelyn, the loss that scars his daughter for life.

Which real property near Darby, Montana, stands in for the Dutton home in Yellowstone?

Chief Joseph Ranch is named for the Nez Perce leader whose people are believed to have crossed the land in 1877, and it now takes paying guests.

Before production moved fully to the show's home state in 2020, much of Yellowstone was filmed in which state?

Utah hosted much of the first three seasons, and when the production left for Montana in 2020 the state's film commissioner publicly mourned the loss.

From 2020, Yellowstone's production was based in which Montana city?

Missoula became the production's base in 2020, and only then was the Montana-set drama filmed solely in Montana, after years of shooting largely in another state.

Which costume designer, an Oscar winner for Black Panther, dressed the cast of Yellowstone's first season?

Ruth E. Carter was urged by the show's creator to think beyond stock western wear, so she reworked vintage clothes for its ranchers before leaving after one season.

Which rival streamer bought US streaming rights to Yellowstone in 2020, keeping the show off Paramount+?

Peacock landed the rights because the deal was struck in 2020, before the show was a ratings giant, so the spin-offs streamed on Paramount+ while the original did not.

Yellowstone's season 4 premiere drew cable's biggest season-opener audience since which AMC drama?

The Walking Dead's 2017 opener was the last to beat it; Yellowstone's 12.7 million came with help from simulcasts on three sister channels.

In the Yellowstone prequel 1883, which veteran actor plays Shea Brennan alongside Tim McGraw and Faith Hill?

Sam Elliott's Shea Brennan is a Pinkerton agent who leads the wagon train after losing his wife and daughter, and he ends the series alone on a beach, speaking aloud to his late wife.

In the Yellowstone prequel 1883, the Dutton family joins a wagon train bound for which destination?

Oregon is where they are headed, but they never arrive: when daughter Elsa is mortally wounded, the family stops in Montana, on the land that becomes the ranch.

The Yellowstone prequel 1923 stars Harrison Ford as Jacob Dutton and which actress as his wife, Cara?

Helen Mirren insisted Cara speak with an Irish accent, because it annoyed her that westerns give modern American voices to people who were recent immigrants.

Yellowstone's creator first drew notice as an actor playing deputy David Hale on which FX drama?

Sons of Anarchy lost him when he quit over what he saw as poor pay; his character was run over by a van, and he turned to writing screenplays.

Yellowstone's creator earned a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for which film?

Hell or High Water follows two brothers who rob banks to save the family ranch, a struggle its writer would return to on television.

Which broadcast network aired edited Yellowstone episodes in fall 2023 during the Hollywood strikes?

CBS remade its fall schedule because the writers' and actors' strikes had halted its own shows, and filled the gap with acquired series including Yellowstone.

Which executive producer's name was stripped from Yellowstone's credits in October 2017?

Harvey Weinstein was listed as an executive producer because his company was making the series; his name came off after the abuse allegations against him surfaced.

How did John Dutton's wife Evelyn die, years before the events of Yellowstone?

A riding accident killed Evelyn in 1997: her horse threw her on a ride with two of her children, and her daughter Beth has blamed herself ever since.

Who composed Yellowstone's score, working with the London Philharmonia Orchestra?

Breton Vivian, who added music in the first two seasons, co-scored seasons three through five with him.

On Yellowstone, what do the Duttons call the remote Wyoming cliff where they dump their enemies' bodies?

The train station lies, John explains, in a county with no residents, so no jury could ever be seated to try a crime committed there.

On Yellowstone, where on the body do the ranch's most loyal hands carry its Y brand?

On the chest: the brand ties a hand to the ranch for life, and John even had his own son Kayce branded as punishment for defying him.

In the 2026 spin-off Dutton Ranch, which actress plays Beulah Jackson, head of the rival ranch?

Annette Bening's Beulah Jackson is a matriarch with trouble at home: in the very first episode her son shoots the family ranch's own foreman dead.

Which actress, who says she auditioned for Yellowstone several times, called its creator's cowboy mythmaking 'delusional'?

Lily Gladstone softened the jab at once, adding of Yellowstone, "No offense to the Native talent in that."

In the Yellowstone prequel 1883, which Hollywood star cameos as General George Meade in a Civil War flashback?

Tom Hanks did the cameo as a favour to old family friends, the show's married leads, and his wife Rita Wilson also appears in the series.

Which actress plays Elsa Dutton and narrates the Yellowstone prequels 1883 and 1923?

Isabel May had auditioned unsuccessfully for another of the creator's shows, then got a call two weeks later telling her she was Elsa Dutton.

In the Yellowstone prequel 1923, Spencer Dutton is first seen hunting big game in which African colony?

British Kenya is where the war-haunted veteran hunts man-eating leopards for hire, and where he meets Alexandra, the Englishwoman he marries.