LOS ANGELES — The cast and crew of "Yellowstone" were jubilant when they reunited to complete the final episodes of what has become TV's hottest scripted series.

In a behind-the-scenes preview titled "Inside the Epic Return," several cast members embraced as they resumed work after being off the air for nearly two years.

"On one hand, it was a big family reunion coming back. On the other hand, it was a new set of challenges," Christina Alexandra Voros, the cinematographer and primary director of the Western-flavored drama, recalled recently to The Times, noting that it was a top priority to maintain secrecy about the series' storylines leading up to the finale.

Unspoken in the four-minute segment, however, was the biggest challenge facing "Yellowstone": continuing the show without Kevin Costner, its main attraction and central character, who departed after the first part of the final season after reported logistical and creative disagreements with the show's co-creator, Taylor Sheridan.

The fate of John Dutton, the wealthy, gravel-voiced rancher played by Costner, remained a mystery until the Nov. 10 season premiere, which drew 21 million viewers across Paramount networks, the largest audience in the show's history. Subsequent episodes have witnessed the Dutton family grappling with the patriarch's absence while fighting desperately to save their massive Montana ranch from financial ruin.

Fans are now bracing for Sunday's grand finale, which is likely to feature the last round of the blood feud between Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and her brother Jamie (Wes Bentley).

It's the culmination of a yearslong journey from scrappy cable drama — one passed on by a number of potential homes before landing at Paramount — into the flagship of a sprawling multiplatform franchise with sizable red-state appeal. Since premiering in 2018, "Yellowstone," anchored by Costner's weather-beaten grit and fueled by complex family dynamics, the setting's majestic beauty and plenty of sex and violence, has defied the structural headwinds facing cable television. It has already birthed two hit spinoffs, "1883" and "1923," the latter starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren and set to return for a second season next year. There's also upcoming series "The Madison" featuring Michelle Pfeiffer, a fleet of other Sheridan-branded projects and now a "Yellowstone" sequel centered on Beth and her husband, boss ranch hand Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser).

And though Sheridan may be the impresario, trusted allies like Voros, showrunner and executive producer David Glasser and Paramount executive Chris McCarthy have also played key roles in the franchise's expansion, despite challenges both internal and external.

"This moment is bittersweet," said Glasser, who credits McCarthy's vision, and investment in Sheridan, with transforming a modest hit into a fictional universe at nine shows and counting. "From day one, Taylor was very clear how the show was going to end. Like anything else, this show has been through an incredible journey. It has had so many unbelievable storylines. We have been through some of the craziest things, from strikes to COVID to everything you can imagine to make this show live through it."

"It's hard to crystallize seven years of an experience with the same group of artists into a couple of words," Voros said. "We've experienced a whole generation of life together. It's a perfume of memories looking back for all of us who made it."

Added Glasser, "At the same time, it seems like it's the right moment for it to evolve. This part of the story had to close, and I think the timing of it now is the right time."

With outsized success has come outsized scrutiny, however, and the second half of the final season, while retaining the ratings dominance of the premiere, has attracted criticism from some fans and reviewers dismayed by recent developments.

Perhaps the most controversial event was the killing off of John Dutton in a murder staged by assassins as a suicide. Though curiosity about Costner's fate created a "Who Shot J.R.?" moment for the series, many fans were upset that Dutton was dispatched in such a brutal manner, which eliminated any lingering hope that Costner might possibly return. (Costner's name remains in the opening credits.)

Glasser recalled a phone call he and Sheridan had with Costner in which the actor said he was not coming back to the show.

"Taylor had a decision to make about what to do with the John Dutton character," Glasser said. "Taylor has his creative process that is like no other. It's incredible and he finds the right thing to do for the situation. Look, no one is ever happy when a credible character is dying. But look at the ratings, and people didn't leave us after Episode 1. So if they were frustrated, they then embraced it and wanted to see where the story went."

"It's funny to me that there was so much noise about John Dutton's death," Voros noted. "It's a testament to the iconic nature of the character Taylor created that when the actor playing that character says he isn't coming back, no one wanted to believe it. They wanted more of him. There was outrage at his death. You're supposed to be outraged. His children are outraged."

Fans, inured to the diversity that's been a mainstay of "Yellowstone" and other in-universe series such as "Lawman: Bass Reeves," starring David Oyelowo, and "Lioness," with Zoe Saldaña and Morgan Freeman, were also distraught over the death of Colby Mayfield (Denim Richards), the only Black cowboy working on the Dutton ranch, when he was trampled by a rampaging stud horse while rescuing teenage Carter (Finn Little). But the character's departure was intended as one of many shocking twists to keep the narrative stakes high, not as a signal of any change in the franchise's commitment to inclusion.

Sheridan "is one of the most diverse filmmakers out there, top to bottom. There is diversity behind and in front of the camera," Glasser said.

Most recently, Sheridan himself has been the focus of the animated reaction. The penultimate episode devoted prominent screen time to Sheridan's return in the role of expert horse trainer Travis Wheatley, who has appeared several times over the years.

Much of the episode takes place during Beth's visit to Wheatley's Texas ranch, where she is greeted by Wheatley's girlfriend, played by supermodel Bella Hadid. Beth walks in on Wheatley, a group of cowboys and several half-naked women playing strip poker. Later scenes showcase Sheridan's impressive skill as a horseman and his sculpted torso. "You are such a f— a— it is almost attractive," Beth comments at one point. "That's fair, I get that," Wheatley replies. "It's kinda part of my appeal."

Though a number of fans were delighted by the guest arc, critics were less kind, with one describing it as "a cry for help."

"From the social media we saw, audiences love the Wheatley character," Glasser said. "In wrapping up all the characters on the show, there needed to be a completion to that character."

No series capable of bringing in 20 million viewers in the age of the Internet is going to be without its naysayers, and as such Voros said she has not been surprised by the range of reactions to the final season: "It's kind of what you expect. When you create a show that has such a tremendous following, everyone has their own opinion on how it's supposed to end."

Whether "Yellowstone" sticks the landing with Sunday's finale remains to be seen, but in delivering a broadly popular drama at a moment of increasing political polarization and consumer fragmentation, the series' legacy — including the universe of shows it's given rise to — seems sure to resonate beyond the end of the current Dutton saga.

And while there is no timetable yet on when the Beth-Rip sequel will premiere or intel on what other "Yellowstone" characters will return — "It's still early, [but] audiences have shown us that Beth and Rip continuing on in some fashion is a good thing," Glasser said — the showrunner is satisfied, for now, with this particular stopping point.

"I'm very happy," he said, "with the way audiences have embraced the show, and with the journey that Taylor has created in the present time and in buttoning it up the way he always would."

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