Current:Home > News'Yellowstone' premiere: Record ratings, Rip's ride and Billy Klapper's tribute -NextFrontier Finance
'Yellowstone' premiere: Record ratings, Rip's ride and Billy Klapper's tribute
View
Date:2025-04-18 04:39:44
Spoilers ahead! Stop reading if you don't want to know what happened to Kevin Costner's John Dutton in "Yellowstone."
In case you've been working cattle off the grid in Texas like Rip Wheeler, "Yellowstone" finally returned Sunday night after two years. The premiere of the six-episode second half of Season 5 on Paramount Network, and its broadcast last Sunday on CBS, pulled in a record same-day audience of 16.4 million viewers, according to VideoAmp, the ratings service used by Paramount Global.
Creator and executive producer Taylor Sheridan made news by immediately killing off Kevin Costner's franchise cornerstone character, patriarch and Montana Governor John Dutton. His death was a casualty of a real-life battle: Costner and Sheridan collided, often publicly, over a series of work issues, prompting Costner to announce in June that he would not be returning to Season 5.
Director Christina Voros, a longtime Sheridan collaborator who is also directing the Michelle Pfieffer-led Sheridan Universe spinoff "The Madison," tells USA TODAY even she was "shocked" at how quickly John Dutton left the stage. Onscreen, the death is made to look like a suicide, but it is actually a murder orchestrated by Attorney General Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) and his girlfriend, lawyer Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri).
But there was much to Sunday's premiere, as Voros explained to USA TODAY.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
Question: John Dutton is now dead, but will we continue to see Kevin Costner's character in "Yellowstone" through flashbacks?
Christina Voros: We use flashbacks, but everything on the screen was shot for this year. One beautiful thing about (Sheridan's) use of flashbacks is that it always adds a layer to the storytelling.
Rip riding off at a full, dust-stirring gallop to get home from Texas is impressive. Does Cole Hauser really ride horseback?
That's definitely Cole riding. You can't make a show about cowboys without people being good on a horse. But we also have a tremendous team of stuntmen and women, wranglers and trainers that are working with them to get them where they are.
Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) tells her husband Rip (Hauser) to get home pronto, but he takes a few detours. Did Rip stop at the 6666 Ranch because Sheridan owns it, or because the ranch is destined to become a "Yellowstone" spinoff?
It doesn't get more cowboy and more authentic Western than The Four Sixes Ranch. It's a desire to honor the men and women who authentically live this life. It isn't about a spinoff or that Taylor owns the ranch. It shows cowboys and ranchers who share a similar heartbeat, and we pay homage to that lifestyle.
The episode is dedicated to legendary bill and spur craftsman Billy Klapper, who is featured with Rip in the episode. Why was that appropriate?
Klapper died in September, about two weeks after we got to work with him. It is one of my life's great honors to do that scene, which was actually shot in his workshop. It was like being in Michelangelo's studio. We didn't touch anything.
Yellowstone aired on CBS Sunday night, after its Paramount Network premiere. What kind of changes are needed for network TV?
We do our cut the way it's initially intended to air. They usually have to clean up a few choice words from Beth's language. It usually comes down to a couple of extra syllables that aren't network-permissible.
Speaking of Beth, she's mourning her father in the premiere. But we see a flashback of Beth being Beth while doing community service on a road crew after a bar fight. Why was that important to show?
Anytime there is the death of a loved one, flashbacks show how amazing life can be one day. Everything is fine. And then the next day, the world is forever changed. These moments of levity juxtaposed with the loss of the patriarch are powerful and amplify how much is lost. The world will never be the same. And it gives the audience a reprieve from the heaviness.
You're still shooting "The Madison," a spinoff starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Patrick J. Adams about a different Montana family. How do they fit into the "Yellowstone" universe?
It's a different perspective on Montana, a different world that feels adjacent, We went with almost the entire crew on the last day of "Yellowstone " to start on "The Madison." We're on the same train, but it's a very different story.
veryGood! (27746)
Related
- Tony Hawk drops in on Paris skateboarding and pushes for more styles of sport in LA 2028
- Wetland plant once nearly extinct may have recovered enough to come off the endangered species list
- California city unveils nation’s first all electric vehicle police fleet
- California city unveils nation’s first all electric vehicle police fleet
- Paris Hilton, Nicole Richie return for an 'Encore,' reminisce about 'The Simple Life'
- Stephen Nedoroscik waited his whole life for one routine. The US pommel horse specialist nailed it
- Redemption tour for USA men's volleyball off to a good start at Paris Olympics
- Ryan Murphy keeps his Olympic medal streak alive in 100 backstroke
- Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
- Who is Alex Sedrick? Meet 'Spiff,' Team USA women's rugby Olympics hero at Paris Games
Ranking
- Selena Gomez engaged to Benny Blanco after 1 year together: 'Forever begins now'
- How Stephen Nedoroscik Became Team USA's Pommel Horse Hero
- 'Ugly': USA women's basketball 3x3 must find chemistry after losing opener
- Federal appeals court rules against Missouri’s waiting period for ex-lawmakers to lobby
- The FTC says 'gamified' online job scams by WhatsApp and text on the rise. What to know.
- Inflation rankings flip: Northeast has largest price jumps, South and West cool off
- Fencer wins Ukraine's first Olympic medal in Paris. 'It's for my country.'
- Meta agrees to $1.4B settlement with Texas in privacy lawsuit over facial recognition
Recommendation
Realtor group picks top 10 housing hot spots for 2025: Did your city make the list?
How Stephen Nedoroscik Became Team USA's Pommel Horse Hero
2024 Olympics: Coco Gauff Tears Up After Controversial Call From Tennis Umpire
How Stephen Nedoroscik delivered on pommel horse to seal US gymnastics' Olympic bronze
Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
2024 Olympics: Colin Jost Shares Photo of Injured Foot After Surfing Event in Tahiti
Providence patients’ lawsuit claims negligence over potential exposure to hepatitis B and C, HIV
Taylor Swift says she is ‘in shock’ after 2 children died in an attack on a UK dance class