Yellowstone Finale: Taylor Sheridan Directing “Supersized” Final Episode

Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan directed the extra-long series finale himself. The hit series ends on Sunday, December 15th at 8 p.m. ET on the Paramount Network. The credits for the big finale were not announced in advance, but on Wednesday The Hollywood Reporter broke the news that Sheridan was behind the camera for this one.

Sheridan is generally considered the lead creative voice on Yellowstone – he created the series with John Linson and has written ever script himself. He also directed every episode of the first season, and has directed several more along the way. However, so far Sheridan has entrusted other directors with Season 5, even knowing that it would probably the neo-Western’s final season. According to THR, Sunday’s episode will be a special super-sized finale event, so Sheridan took the reigns himself.

The finale is titled “Life Is A Promise,” and its runtime is reportedly one hour, 26 minutes. The logline reads simply: “The fate of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch is revealed.” The cast and crew have been hyping up this episode for months. Back in April, Ian Bohen – who plays Ryan – told Entertainment Tonight it was the “best finale in history.”

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“The fans are going to get the [best] conclusion that could possibly be written,” he said at the time. “Everything will land in a way that is perfectly set. A lot of shows just kind of finish… and they don’t satisfy you. This will be completed in a way that it will make sense. I don’t know that any show has finished this strongly ever. We’re expecting to have the best series finale in history. Overconfident maybe, but I think that’s what it’s going to be. We thank everyone for their patience… It’ll be worth the wait, I promise.”

While everyone involved has played up the finality of this ending, there are hints that the franchise might go on without much real change. Paramount has officially announced that this is the end of the main Yellowstone series, but a sequel series titled The Madison is already in the works. The prequel series 1923 is ongoing, and two other possible spinoffs are in development.

As for the cast, stars Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser are reportedly in talks to continue their roles in other shows. Both actors have been publicly enthusiastic about the idea, with Reilly telling THR: “We’ll see by the end if they want it. Because they might want to just wrap it up and finish it, so we’ll see. It has to be authentic.”

The Yellowstone series finale premieres on Sunday, December 15th at 8 p.m. ET on The Paramount Network. Previous seasons are streaming now on Paramount+.