Fans of the Paramount show Yellowstone are still getting over the drama of the show ending after its current fifth season, and now some real-life drama has emerged, muddying its final outing.
First landing on fans’ screens in 2018, the show has a star-studded cast and has launched several spinoffs.
The show has amassed a loyal fanbase, but they may not be happy to learn of the latest developments between show creator and showrunner Taylor Sheridan and cast member Cole Hauser.
Hauser has played Rip Wheeler on the popular Western show since it first aired, and his other credits include 2 Fast 2 Furious and Olympus Has Fallen.
Gary Miller/Amy Sussman/Getty Images
Sheridan created spinoff shows 1883 and 1923, wrote and produced multiple other projects, such as Paramount+’s Lioness and Tulsa King and has also wracked up several acting credits.
So what’s the drama, you may ask? Sheridan is suing Hauser over his coffee company, Free Rein, specifically for “trademark infringement, unfair competition, and false advertising.”
Bosque Ranch, the North Texas equine facility and filming location for Yellowstone owned by Sheridan, filed the lawsuit against Free Rein Coffee Company on November 21.
Filed in the Northern District of Texas, the lawsuit alleges that a logo used by Free Rein is similar to that used by Bosque Ranch, both of which have intertwining letters. For the coffee company, it is the letters F and R, and the letters B and R are for Bosque Ranch.
In documents seen by Newsweek, it is alleged that the coffee company logo is “confusingly similar to the BR Brand used by Bosque Ranch” and that it is “likely to cause confusion or to cause mistake or to deceive as to the affiliation, connection, or association.”
Newsweek has contacted Taylor Sheridan’s publicist and Cole Hauser’s legal representative via email for comment.
Bosque Ranch also has its own coffee, partnering with Louisiana-based company Community Coffee in June this year. Hauser’s coffee brand launched in October this year.
Hauser set up the coffee brand with “three of his friends,” as stated on the company’s website—Karl Pfluger, Aron Marquez, and Paul Anderson.
The Free Rein website references how Hauser had “dipped his feet in the world of riding and roping long before he ever set foot in Yellowstone,” adding that “it was in Montana that he really grew to appreciate what it takes to live the life of a working cowboy.” Montana is another key filming location for Yellowstone.
The about page continues: “So he decided to make a coffee brand that embodied the spirit of the West. That embodied the dreamer’s mindset and callused hands of those cowboys he admired.”
Season 5, Part 1, finished streaming in January this year, with the second part of the final series set to air in November 2024.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.