Is Yellowstone based on a true story?

But it's Yellowstone he'll forever be known for best, a five-season epic that stars Kevin Costner as the head of the Dutton ranch family where love and treachery go hand in hand.

The Dutton saga is an entirely fictional one, of course. These larger-than-life characters go through more drama than an entire ranching bloodline might do in the real world, yet the overall arc and family dynamics we see in the show could easily play out in real life.

Thematically speaking, that's where Yellowstone speaks to the truth most.

Is Yellowstone based on a true story?

While promoting season 1 in a chat with the Los Angeles Times, Sheridan spoke of very real concerns over modern-day ranching which is waning in the face of gentrification, even in the remote dust bowl of the rural frontier.

"These issues of land development, resource mismanagement, oppression, and extreme poverty and inequity in government – they exist here. [...] But when it happens in a small area, in a rural area [...] and because there's fewer people, the consequences seem much more acute.

"When you start seeing Costcos in a landscape of farms and ranches, it's much more dramatic than if they jam one in the San Fernando Valley."

Yellowstone directly reflects the reality of a world where resource and financial shortages impact ranching communities that struggle with modernity. That's something Sheridan knows firsthand having lived in Wyoming in recent years, not to mention that he's the current owner of the legendary 6666 Ranch in Texas.

The physical ranch depicted in the series is also realistic in that it's actually a real historic working ranch — the Chief Joseph Ranch in Darby, Montana – where horses were ridden and wrangled just like they were on the Cranfills Gap ranch Sheridan visited so often as a child.

Just as Sheridan mines his own past for inspiration to write Yellowstone, lead actor Kevin Costner looks to real history to better understand his own character, studying books and documentaries on the Civil War and Wild West.

But it's his father's legacy that seems to inspire his portrayal of the character most.

Speaking to TV Insider, Costner revealed that his father was "a fist-fighting, single-minded tough guy coming out of the Dust Bowl in the Great Depression".

The .30-30 he uses in Yellowstone, once owned by his father, helps Costner get into character too. "My dad's right there," said Costner. Through knowing him, Kevin knew "what it's like to be a person that's kind of a John Dutton, minus the murder".

To better understand how authentic Yellowstone really is, Variety spoke to a third-generation Idaho rancher in 2023 who talked through what did and didn't resonate with her as realistic within the show.

"There can be a lot of tension," explained Jessie Jarvis, "especially on ranching operations, or farms where you live as well.

"You own a business, and you live on the business. There’s not an opportunity to really turn it off, versus if you own a hardware store, you shut the lights down, you lock the doors and you come home. So holidays can be a struggle for people. But the family dysfunction is much more dramatic on screen."

On a granular level, Jarvis notes that the clothes and costuming ring true to her experiences as well: "You’ll see a lot of Kimes Ranch on the show – that’s a brand we wear. The hats they wear, they’re from brands like American Hat and Greeley Hat, which we also wear.

"I think that’s because Taylor Sheridan is so invested in this lifestyle, so he wants to bring the truth and depict the correct image. He does a phenomenal job at that…

"Honestly, all of the ranch employees are dressed very accurately – with the exception of Jimmy’s cowboy hat in the first season. That looks like it came from a country music festival. We don’t wear those."

The way characters in Yellowstone treat the ranching profession, from talk of the horses to the pride the Duttons take in their land, resonated a lot with Jarvis, who explained: "That is something that is absolutely true every single day for us.

"Unlike on TV, I can tell you it doesn’t pay well to be a rancher, so we’re not here for the paycheque. We’re here because there’s no better way to raise your family. There’s no better way to work. And it’s really rewarding to be around animals and continue the heritage of what our nation was founded on."

A key difference is that aforementioned wealth, or the lack thereof, in real life.

"The Duttons are very wealthy, and that does not track with the majority of farms and ranches in America right now.

"We don’t own a helicopter. A lot of the pickups and trailers that are featured, they are top of the line, like Dodge Trucks and Bloomer Trailers. They are used in our industry, but they’re actually more on the Western sports side of things, not necessarily what you would find if you were to walk into a family farming and ranching operation."

The violence so frequently depicted in Yellowstone is obviously exaggerated a lot too. "Sometimes it seems like someone is getting shot every single episode!" joked Jarvis.

Same goes for the profanity. "I mean, I’ve yelled some curse words at a cow before, and we always joke that when you’re sorting cattle with family, no one’s going to come out without having been yelled at. But it’s nothing like this."

What's arguably more problematic, though, is the show's portrayal of Indigenous Americans. Despite exploring issues around land rights and tribal sovereignty, Yellowstone is still frequently criticised for stereotyping Indigenous Americans, reducing them to tropes that unfairly other them in unrealistic ways.

A number of viewers and commentators have argued that Sheridan's writing seems to prioritise white voices to the point where Indigenous Americans are often flattened out or not even included at all, and if there's any area Yellowstone should have worked harder on when it came to authentic storytelling, it was this one.

Yellowstone is available to stream on Netflix and Paramount Plus. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream. Get a seven day free Paramount Plus trial at Amazon Prime Video.

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