‘Yellowstone’ Season 3 Premiere Debuts to Massive Audience

Yellowstone Season 3 premiered on Paramount Network on Sunday night, and the debut brought in a massive audience. According to Deadline, the Father’s Day season premiere episode was watched by 4.2 million viewers. The outlet notes that this is a 76 percent increase from Yellowstone‘s Season 2 premiere.

Notably, Paramount Network airs Yellowstone simulcast on three other networks as well — CMT, TV Land and Pop — which brings its total watched number up to 6.6 million viewers. This statistic makes it the most-watched cable premiere of 2020. Yellowstone continues to set and shatter records, as Season 2 was the number 1 scripted series of summer 2019, across cable and broadcast TV in the key P18-49 and P25-54 demos. It was also the most-watched cable TV series among total viewers for the summer of 2019.

Yellowstone stars Kevin Costner as the Dutton family patriarch, John Dutton. His family controls the largest contiguous cattle ranch in the United States. Series co-stars include Wes Bentley, Cole Hauser, Luke Grimes, Danny Huston, Kelly Reilly, Kelsey Asbille, Brecken Merrill, Jefferson White and Gil Birmingham.

Following the Season 2 finale of Yellowstone, Grimes — who plays Kayce Dutton — spoke exclusively to PopCulture.com and shared what fans can expect from Season 3. “I think Season 3 is very different, as you know, it’s just sort of a collection of things that happen to these characters, but that’s sort of the genius of Yellowstone,” he said. “It’s like it changes speed and takes turns, and sometimes it’s intense and violent and crazy, and sometimes it’s poetic, and the moments are more subtle. It is always evolving and morphing into something else. I think you’re going to get that same thing with Season 3.”

Grimes then compared the previous seasons, explaining, “Season 2 was incredibly different from Season 1, and Season 3 is just as different from season two. At the heart of it is all these characters that you’ve fallen in love with and this family we’ve sort of been rooting for. I think once you’re in and once you’re invested in these people, like the places that (series creator Taylor Sheridan) can go with the writing and the journey he can take us… there’s no limit to the boundaries.”