UPDATED: Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone universe is eying further expansion beyond Paramount Network and Paramount+. A potential new offshoot would air on sibling broadcast network CBS.
No deals are believed to be in place for the procedural, which started hitting the rumor mill more than a month ago. Just like it did back then, CBS would not comment to Deadline on the prospect of an original Yellowstone series on the network. The new series would star Yellowstone‘s Luke Grimes reprising his role as livestock commissioner and former Navy SEAL Kayce Dutton.
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The existing Yellowstone series are produced by MTV Entertainment Studios. I hear there is no current involvement by sibling CBS Studios, which produces all in-house CBS drama procedurals though one of the showrunners on its roster, SEAL Team‘s Spencer Hudnut, is shepherding the new show.
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According to sources, he has been working on ideas for over a year as the project has navigated through getting Sheridan’s approval and a commitment by Grimes to do a broadcast series. Things are still in flux but if it comes together, the series would likely tap into Kayce’s Navy SEAL background, I hear.
If it comes to fruition, the new offshoot would join another Yellowstone spinoff series, headlined by Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser, which was announced last December.
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This would mark a return of the Yellowstone universe to CBS, which carried the first seasons of the mothership series during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. The network also is in business with Sheridan on the upcoming music competition series The Road.
This also fits into the overarching Paramount Global corporate cross-platform strategy. The NCIS franchise, which originated on CBS, now will have its first spinoff on Paramount+ in addition to the ongoing broadcast series.
Grimes’ Kayce is Beth Dutton’s (Reilly) younger brother. In the Yellowstone series finale, Kayce signs the entire land over to Rainwater and his tribe for $1.25 an acre, the price he says 1883’s James Dutton (Tim McGraw) paid when the family settled there. The sale is conditional: the sprawling land can never be developed, and Kayce, wife Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and son Tate (Brecken Merrill) will stay on a small parcel where they’ve built a house and would remain.
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News of Grimes’ involvement in the potential spinoff was first reported by Puck.
Yellowstone was co-created by Sheridan and John Linson who executive produce with Art Linson, Costner, David C. Glasser, Bob Yari, Stephen Kay, Michael Friedman, Christina Voros and Keith Cox. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.
Coming up is the Yellowstone franchise’s first contemporary spinoff, The Madison, starring Michelle Pfeiffer. Prequel series include 1883 and 1923.