The Season One finale is scheduled to air Aug. 22 on the Paramount Network.
On the very same day we posted our profile of Yellowstone star Gil Birmingham on the C&I website, the Paramount Network has announced a second-season renewal for the smash-hit weekly drama. Coincidence? We don’t think so.
Actually, the renewal comes as little or no surprise, considering how impressively Yellowstone captured — and then expanded — its audience during its current premiere season. According to the showbiz trade paper Variety, the drama has been averaging a 0.4 rating in the Adults 18-49 demographic, and 2.4 million viewers an episode in the Nielsen Live+ Same Day ratings, after five episodes. “The series has also seen significant lift in delayed viewing,” reports Variety writer Joe Otterson, “with the premiere alone rising from 2.8 million viewers to 5.3 million in Live+ 7.”
To put those numbers into perspective: Yellowstone currently ranks as the second-highest-rated basic cable scripted series, surpassed in viewership only by The Walking Dead. The Season One finale is slated for Aug. 22.
Written and directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water, Wind River), Yellowstone showcases Kevin Costner in the lead role of John Dutton, patriarch of a family that owns the largest contiguous ranch in the United States. As he struggles to maintain his empire and his way of life in contemporary Montana, Dutton frequently clashes with Thomas Rainwater, an influential and ambitious local Native American chief played by Birmingham.
Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, Cole Hauser, Kelsey Asbille, Brecken Merrill, Jefferson White, and Danny Huston are among the other series regulars in Yellowstone, which airs at 10 pm ET Wednesday on the Paramount Network (formerly Spike TV). The series will return for its 10-episode second season in 2019. Variety reports that filming is scheduled to resume soon on location in Montana and Utah.
