Regardless of whether Yellowstone shall return for a probable sixth season, it's surely the end of the road for the show's fifth installment. As the finale for Yellowstone season five edges nearer, audiences are quite frenzied about the twists and turns that the ultimate episode might hold for them.
Following the off-screen death of Dutton family patriarch John Dutton III, played by Kevin Costner, the family has been thrown into chaos. Now led by Kelly Reilly's Beth Dutton, the family tries one last time to fight with all its power to avenge the death of John Dutton.
What if the Yellowstone Volcano erupted?
Although the volcano has been lying largely silent over the past several years, if a large caldera-forming eruption were to occur, it would have far-reaching and global consequences. According to the USGS:
"If another large, caldera-forming eruption were to occur at Yellowstone, its effects would be worldwide. Such a giant eruption would have regional effects such as falling ash and short-term (years to decades) changes to global climate. Those parts of the surrounding states of Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming that are closest to Yellowstone would be affected by pyroclastic flows, while other places in the United States would be impacted by falling ash (the amount of ash would decrease with distance from the eruption site)."
The volcano's last eruption is said to have been 631,000 years ago. Before that, the volcano had erupted 1.3 million years ago. The site is unpredictable at best and often causes earthquakes in the area.
Yellowstone connection with the volcano of the same name explained
The Yellowstone volcano is located at the Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming. In naming his show after a volcanic site, Sheridan played with metaphor and emphasized his narrative's unpredictable and eruptive nature.
Oftentimes, throughout the past seasons and episodes of the show, it has thus appeared as if the Dutton family is sitting on an active volcano or rolling in a powder keg as the situation turns explosive. The frequent attacks on Beth Dutton and the like prove this.
The unpredictable nature of both further accentuates the connection between the show and the volcanic site. As the finale is just around the corner, it can't be said with certainty which characters would make it out alive out of one of the largest fictional ranches in the country.
In making the Paramount show, showrunner Taylor Sheridan virtually reinvented and revamped the neo-Western to the extent that the show is highly watched throughout the globe and has gathered millions in revenue. Speaking in a 2022 interview with Variety, Sheridan opened up about the genesis of the show and the success it was met with. He stated:
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"I was very influenced by writers like Cormac McCarthy, Larry McMurtry, Toni Morrison, who wrote about the time around the Civil War, which is obviously very similar themes. There’s a lot of Westerns about it. And in terms of the movies that influenced me, it was watching ‘Unforgiven’ when I was in my late teens or very early 20s. The same with ‘Dances With Wolves,’ where you’re looking at the Western genre through a whole new lens that had never been explored before."
Season 5 finale airs on Paramount on Sunday, December 15, 2024.
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