Yellowstone Leaving Montana to Film Back in Utah

You could likely hear the collective eye-roll from Darby to Missoula. It finally happened. The Yellowstone production is loading its trucks, shiny trailers, and spray-tanned cowboys and moving to Utah. Yep, back to the beginning of it all.

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And honestly? You can bet a lot of Montanans are cracking a cold one and toasting to the peace returning to the Bitterroot.

Now, don’t get me wrong. There were some advantages to Yellowstone being here. Some people even took home paychecks for character parts and extras. A small handful of die-hard fans beamed whenever Cole Hauser pulled up to the pump in Missoula. And I’ll be honest, it was kind of entertaining to try to identify which characters were “100% not from here” with their shiny new cowboy hats and pristine boots that had never met pasture mud.

But let’s be real. For most of us, it felt like someone had invited the entire population of California to our backyard barbecue, and they showed up to the party, along with a camera crew, a drone, and a rented horse.

Western Montana has always been a bit more hushed, a bit more wild. We like it that way. The traffic jams, the “No Parking, Filming Today” signs, the weekend lookie-loos trying to see Rip’s stunt double? Yeah, not so much.

So Taylor Sheridan’s taking his film universe back to Utah, and I say we wish him the best. Film your spinoffs in a land with a Costco every 10 miles. We’ll be here, on our dirt roads, with overpriced gas and just a tad more elbow room.

To the fans who’ll miss it? We get it. But for the rest of us, it’s a good solid "DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YA" and wave goodbye.