What You Need to Remember Before Yellowstone Returns for Season 5, Part 2

THESE DAYS, IT takes a long time for TV to come back. Look, we wish every show could be like The Bear and Only Murders in the Building and release a brand new season, like clockwork, right around the same time every year. That’s how things used to be! But in the modern age of television, with shorter seasons and busier stars, the extended period of time between seasons is getting longer, and memories are getting shorter. It’s hard to remember what happened, even in our favorite shows, from one season to the next.

In the case of some recent television—including Yellowstone—there are also some more extinuating circumstances that come into play as well. You may recall that in 2023 there was both a WGA and a SAG-AFTRA strike; both caused significant delays for just about every TV show and film in production. Yellowstone also had to figure out what was going on with its most famous star, Kevin Costner, who had trouble balancing his role on the show with his Horizon: An American Saga films (which he both directs and stars in); he eventually left the show.

So where does that leave us, now that Yellowstone is finally returning for season 5, part 2 after nearly two years away? Trying to remember things, that’s where.

Luckily, we’ve got you covered. Thinking back to the long ago times of winter 2022 is certainly a little tricky, so read below for our succinct recap of everything that was going down in the eight episodes of Yellowstone season 5, part 1.

It won’t take long, we promise.

What do I need to remember about Yellowstone before season 5, part 2?

Before we get down to brass tacks, let’s assume you’re familiar with the key players in Yellowstone: John Dutton (Kevin Costner) is the cool-headed family patriarch, running Dutton Ranch and rarely getting anything wrong or being wrong about anything. His adult children are also involved; Beth (Kelly Reilly) is a hot-headed woman is in a relationship with Rip (Cole Hauser) who is a longtime friend and rancher (has been on the ranch since his childhood) and “fixer” loyal to the family. Jamie (Wes Bentley) is the black sheep of the family (and is actually not John’s biological son, but that’s a story for another season) but has also been groomed to be the family’s sharpest legal mind; he almost always betrays the family one way or another. Jamie and Beth hate each other ever since Jamie was responsible for Beth becoming infertile in her teenage years. Beth hates Jamie more, though.

There’s also John’s son Kayce (Luke Grimes) who is closest to his father in demeanor, but hasn’t had a huge role on the show the last few years in terms of things he’s actually been doing. He’s the livestock commissioner of Montana, and is going through a particularly rough time after his wife, Monica (Kelsey Asbille), lost their unborn baby as the result of a car accident. Their son, Tate (Brecken Merrill) has also been getting more and more involve with the family business. John also had a fourth adult child, Lee, who died in the very first episode of the series and has barely been mentioned since.

Anyway: the key thing to remember about season 5, part 1 is that John has been elected Governor of Montana, a position he pursued just about exclusively with the intent of protecting his family’s ranch from the greedy capitalists constantly trying to take it over to build real estate developments and other kind of nuisances. Their main opponent is a company called Market Equities, and one of that comapny’s main fixers is a woman named Sarah Atwood, who is a calculating lawyer and fixer who is able to easily manipulate Jamie; she eventually gets him to turn against the family and eventually work in Market Equities’s favor.

And that’s kind of where the end of season 5, part 1 leaves things. Market Equities vs. the Dutton family. Market Equities wants to build an airport in the Yellowstone ranch area—and to impeach John, and install Jamie as governor—while the Duttons want to maintain control and fight back. The real cliffhanger? The stakes are raising, because both sides are threatening and floating the idea of taking lives from the other side.

Yellowstone has always used the metaphor of “taking someone to the train station” to explain people that the Dutton family kills and disposes of without any consequence. As we get to season 5, part 2 of Yellowstone, we could be seeing quite a few trips to the train station—including some from very familiar and long-time characters.

Also worth remembering: Kevin Costner will not be returning to Yellowstone as John Dutton

If you’re wondering why John Dutton is absent from Yellowstone season 5, part 2, it’s a very simple answer: there was a long stalemate between Kevin Costner (who plays John Dutton) and Yellowstone. He pursued the production of his dream project, Horizon: An American Saga (which he ended up filming two of four planned parts; only the first has been released so far, with the second currently on the shelf and the other two in limbo), which eventually led to his departure from the show.

As a result, John Dutton won’t figure into Yellowstone season 5, part 2. There’s a small chance that Costner filmed a short cameo to wrap his character up and kept things secret, but given some of the bad blood that has become public around this whole situation, that doesn’t feel quite likely.