Yellowstone star Ian Bohen teases season 5 part 2’s filming start date and how the show will wrap up. Created by Taylor Sheridan, Yellowstone first aired in 2018, chronicling the lives of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton and his family members as they manage a Montana ranch and protect their land. With the season 5 part 1 finale having aired last January, the neo-Western is now gearing up for the release of season 5 part 2, which is confirmed to serve as the show’s final outing.

In a recent interview with TV Insider, Bohen reveals that Yellowstone season 5 part 2 could start filming in May or June, though this date is not yet set in stone. While the actor hasn’t yet the scripts for the final episodes, he teases that audiences are in for “the most satisfying, the best ending that the show could possibly have from the mind of our creator.” Read his full comment below in which he also alludes to Costner’s departure:

“We will go back… rumor has it in May. This summer, and then we should be on in November, roughly. It could be June… we shoot six episodes. November, maybe December, and then we go through the holidays and maybe season finale… series finale maybe on Super Bowl [day].

“It’s like going to college and grad school with the same people for six or eight years, and you’re like, ‘We have to go? Then what are we gonna do next?’ It feels empty and weird, so I’m gonna try to wring out every second of it.

“People come and go and there’s all kinds of stories that you may read about and hear, but this story of what this show is about is the most important. We’re all components, and we all become madly in love with each other as actors and as people, so we’ll finish that out in this beautiful glide to land. It’ll be great, so we just want to take advantage of the time more than anything.

“Taylor is going to be delivering to the audience, so it’ll be worth the wait, so we thank everybody for waiting.”

Why Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 Has Taken So Long
The Kevin Costner Drama Explained

Yellowstone has been wildly popular throughout its 5 seasons, but, over the past year, the show has faced some struggles, delaying the release of season 5 part 2. One large source of these struggles is the behind-the-scenes drama involving Costner. Following the mid-season finale of season 5 last January, reports began to emerge that Costner and the production were in disagreement regarding his shooting schedule. It later came out that Costner had some concerns over the creative direction of the show and his character, creating friction with Sheridan.

Costner was busy starring in, producing, and directing Western epic Horizon: An American Saga, a longtime passion project, and reportedly didn’t want to spend as much time on set shooting season 5 part 2. This was then compounded by the onset of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes last summer, with Sheridan having not completed the script prior to their start. This prevented the new batch of episodes from releasing in November 2023 as planned.

Multiple reports from Hollywood insider Matthew Belloni and his Puck newsletter suggest that Costner will not be appearing in season 5 part 2. Paramount, however, has not yet confirmed that this is the case. While the show is definitely going back into production this year, it seems that Yellowstone season 5 will end without Costner’s Dutton actually appearing on-screen.