Taylor Sheridan will make history for his Yellowstone franchise next month as two spinoffs of Kevin Costner’s series, which he led as cattle magnate John Dutton, are coming to the small screen. Sheridan co-created Yellowstone with John Linson, which premiered in 2018 and, after numerous scheduling delays, wrapped at the end of 2024 with Yellowstone Season 5.
Yellowstone Season 5 was split into two parts, with the premiere of its second half garnering 16.4 million viewers across initial airings and simulcasts, making it the franchise’s biggest premiere night ever. While the original series is officially over after Season 5, the franchise finally returns in March with a historic offering that ushers in a new Yellowstone era.
Why March Marks A Historic Month For The Yellowstone Franchise
Image via Paramount.
It’s been about a year since the Yellowstone franchise released any new content. Its second spinoff, 1923, finished its sophomore season in April 2025, and the franchise has been quiet since. After 1923’s second and final season, the franchise went dark for nearly a year, but will return in March with a bold continuation of the original series. Yellowstone officially returns on the first of the month with a spinoff that will follow John Dutton’s youngest son, Kayce, with Luke Grimes reprising his role. After selling the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch to Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) in the series finale of Yellowstone, Kayce is back in action in his own series, a CBS procedural titled Marshals.
However, after months of radio silence, the Yellowstone franchise is preparing to release not just one but two spinoffs in March. Paramount+ has announced a release date for the property’s most elusive spinoff, The Madison, starring Michelle Pfeiffer and an ensemble cast featuring Kurt Russell. The official release date for The Madison is March 14, just two weeks after Marshals. Yellowstone has released episodes of different series simultaneously, like when the first spinoff, 1883, aired alongside Season 4 at the end of 2021 and beginning of 2022, with Yellowstone featuring flashbacks that tie the shows together. However, March will be a historic month for Yellowstone, marking the first time it has had two spinoffs debut in the same month.
Additionally, it will be the first time that Yellowstone has shows airing on both broadcast and streaming platforms. Kayce’s Yellowstone spinoff, Marshals, is the franchise’s first procedural and first series to air on a major broadcast network. At the same time, The Madison will stream on Paramount+, which has been home to all the franchise’s spinoffs so far.
How Marshals And The Madison Connect To Yellowstone’s Flagship
With two Yellowstone offshoots quickly approaching, with Marshals premiering alongside Tracker Season 3’s return on Sunday, March 1, and The Madison debuting two weeks later on March 14, it’s important for anyone tuning in to understand how the spinoffs relate to the original series.
While The Madison may stand alone, Kayce’s Marshals series is liable to call back to Yellowstone. The Madison has no reported ties to the Dutton family in the series’ details. The Madison will follow Michelle Pfeiffer as Stacy Clyburn, a widowed woman from New York City who moves to Montana’s Madison River Valley after a tragic loss. So far, the series has no connections to Yellowstone‘s story, despite being formulated as a spinoff of the original.
As The Madison takes shape, the series may reveal that Stacy and her brood have ties to John Dutton and his family, as the extensive Dutton family tree has guided all of Sheridan’s Montana-based television series so far. Some fans believe that Stacy will be the ancestor of 1923’s Elizabeth Strafford, played by Michelle Randolph, who left Montana in 1924.
On the other hand, Kayce’s spinoff will have direct connections to the legacy he and his family built in the flagship. Kayce Dutton was a main character in Yellowstone, and his evolution and his being pulled between two worlds are formative to the series’ storytelling. At the end of Yellowstone, Kayce sells the ranch and moves on. That said, Kayce will return to the line of fire in Marshals, joining an elite team of US Marshals in Montana. The series will likely contain references to Kayce’s past and the end of Yellowstone, since Thomas Rainwater and Mo Brings Plenty are joining as recurring characters, and it will likely build on their shared story.
