*Warning – This article contains spoilers for Yellowstone season 5b.*
viewers were left outraged after the show’s penultimate episode, which featured a lengthy appearance by the show’s creator, Taylor Sheridan. Sheridan’s character, Travis Wheatley, has made sporadic appearances in the series before, but many fans felt he overstepped the mark this time.
The main gripe was that the Yellowstone writer had opted to take up valuable screen time just before the show’s finale, with numerous fans arguing that the remaining episodes should focus on the characters they are invested in. In Sunday’s episode, Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) finally accepts that the Dutton family ranch must be sold to cover their debts and heads to Texas to track down the horse trainer Travis.
Upon her arrival, Travis is surrounded by several attractive women playing strip poker and is joined by his much younger girlfriend, played by 28-year-old supermodel Bella Hadid.
Taking to X, the social media platform formerly known as , many fans slammed Sheridan for “wasting” valuable airtime, with some labelling the scenes self-indulgent, reports .
Taylor Sheridan plays Travis Wheatley (Image: PARAMOUNT)
One fan wrote: “As if Taylor Sheridan wasted one of the last episodes of this show by inserting himself so he could parade around with half-naked women. We could have had 8 more episodes of Kevin Costner instead of this bs #Yellowstone.” (sic)
One viewer issued a stern warning, tweeting: “TAYLOR SHERIDAN a word of advice. Don’t write or put yourself into your own shoes ever again.” (sic)
A third fan expressed frustration, saying: “How the hell is all this going to get wrapped up in an episode and a half? Definitely could’ve done without the 20 minutes of Taylor making himself look like a ladies man and top cowboy in the world. What an ego.” (sic)
Bella Hadid made a surprise cameo appearance in Yellowstone (Image: PARAMOUNT)
Taylor Sheridan is the creator of Yellowstone (Image: PARAMOUNT)
Another viewer questioned the decision to dedicate a significant portion of the episode to the creator’s antics, asking: “I’m still trying to understand the choice to spend a large chunk of the penultimate episode watching its creator cavorting with a bunch of half naked women. I mean really?”
One fan argued that the move was selfish, saying: “I know it’s his show but this?? We’ve seen him numerous times on the show work with his horses and now we see his half naked juiced self? Very selfish of him to hog time from the real cast we care about #yellowstone.” (sic)
Meanwhile, another viewer lamented: “15 mins of story and scenes wasted with watching Taylor Sheridan showboat on his own show, partying and just doing his thing.”
The Yellowstone finale airs Sunday, December 15 on Paramount Network, with UK audiences able to stream it the following day on Paramount Plus.