Matthew McConaughey’s Yellowstone Spinoff Is Happening, So Saddle Up For More Drama

All right, all right, all right. Folks, Hollywood’s favorite Texan Matthew McConaughey is set to star an upcoming extension of Yellowstone. Details are pretty scarce at the moment, but executives at Paramount confirmed the actor is indeed joining Taylor Sheridan’s ever-growing Yellowstone universe and the series’ creator himself just weighed in on the actor joining the franchise.

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in March, Paramount president and CEO Chris McCarthy confirmed that McConaughey is “lined up to star in a Yellowstone extension.” What McCarthy means by “extension” remains unclear. Sheridan has already released two Yellowstone prequel series about the Dutton family: 1883 with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, which ended after one season, and 1923, which stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, and has already renewed for Season 2. Another Yellowstone spin-off series, 6666 about the Four Sixes ranch in West Texas, is also in the works.

In a June interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Sheridan said McConaughey “seems like a natural fit” for the project. “We had a few conversations over the years, and spitballed a few ideas. Then he started watching Yellowstone and responded to it,” Sheridan added. “He was like, ‘I want to do that.’ And by ‘that’ he meant diving into a raw world clashing up against the modern world. And then I said, ‘Buddy, that we can do.’”

Chatter about McConaughey joining the Yellowstone franchise started back in February. It’s been confirmed that Yellowstone’s star and Dutton family patriarch, Kevin Costner, is leaving the series it’s ending with Season 5. Deadline previously reported that the series starring McConaughey is “expected expected to include several of the big stars” from Yellowstone. So it seems possible McConaughey’s series could take place in the modern day.

However, chatting with The Hollywood Reporter in June, Sheridan hinted that the new series may feature a new cast and location, though it will have “Yellowstone” in its name. “My idea of a spinoff is the same as my idea of a prequel — read into that what you will,” Sheridan told the outlet. “There are lots of places where a way of life that existed for 150 years is slamming against a new way of life, but the challenges are completely different. There are a lot of places you can tell this story.”

As for McConaughey, despite being fond of cowboy hats, his strong Texas accent, and love of horseback riding, the dad of three with wife Camila Alves has some history with the Yellowstone cast. Back in 1993, McConaughey starred in the coming-of-age comedy Dazed and Confused with Cole Hauser, who plays Rip Wheeler in Yellowstone. In the movie set on the last day of school in 1976, McConaughey played David Wooderson, the stoner dude who can’t move past his high school days and famously said, “That’s what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age.” Hauser starred as Benny O’Donnell, one of the football jocks who was very serious about the sport.

The two actors appear to have remained friends over the years. In March, McConaughey shared a photo of him with Hauser to wish the Yellowstone actor a happy birthday. “keep ridin Cole Kenny, happy birthday, Matthew David,” McConaughey wrote on Instagram, to which Hauser replied, “Thanks Matthew David. Ridin!”

Whether or not these two will reunite on-screen in some extension of Yellowstone remains a mystery. But what we do know is that McConaughey’s spin-off is officially happening and the Dutton family drama is only going to get more intense.