‘Yellowstone’: Who Will Matthew McConaughey Play in New Show?

Matthew McConaughey’s untitled Yellowstone project is now a lock, but one question remains: Who will he be playing? Nothing is really known about the upcoming show, except rumors lead many to believe it could have the gravitas to be the new top show in Taylor Sheridan’s universe, should Paramount Network’s Yellowstone end. That’s an exciting prospect: the Oscar-winning actor being the new focus of the Yellowstone world in what who be his first live-action TV project since True Detective Season 1. It’s gotten our brains spinning thinking of all the possibilities.

If we’re casting him as a Dutton, could we see him as either Tate (Brecken Merrill) or another grandchild in the far-off future? Yellowstone: 2060 seems like an unlikely option, but it would see the world moving in a new direction, and it’d be interesting to see Sheridan’s ideas for where America is headed for the rest of the 21st century. 

If we’re sticking in the past, it’s doubtful he could be a young version of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton III. However, would John Dutton II (once played in a Yellowstone flashback by Dabney Coleman) be out of the question? Some fans might doubt he’d be the man to father Costner’s character, but with TV magic, viewers might be able to accept it in time.

Our best guess, though, is just that McConaughey will be a totally new character. Maybe he’ll even be an outsider-type who crashes into the Duttons’ world. Maybe he comes in and takes over the family’s land, leaving the opportunity open for current Yellowstone cast members to come in and out of the show’s story as necessary. It’s all speculation, though, until McConaughey, Sheridan or someone else involved spits out the details.

Regardless, we at least know the McConaughey-led program is a guarantee, according to details in The Hollywood Reporter‘s profile of Paramount Media Networks boss Chris McCarthy.

“Matthew McConaughey is lined up to star in a Yellowstone extension, which will move forward regardless of whether Costner returns to the original,” THR’s Lacey Rose wrote in the piece. “In fact, it’s one of more than 10 projects that McCarthy has with creator Taylor Sheridan, whom he lavishly praises for, among other things, his ability to deliver high-quality, mass-appeal programming as others in Hollywood are focused only on the coasts.”