A Last-Minute Change Led to The Madison’s Shocking Ending
A Last-Minute Change Led to The Madison’s Shocking Ending
Lauren HubbardSat, March 21, 2026 at 3:00 PM UTC
0
The Madison’s Shocking Ending, ExplainedEmerson Miller/Paramount +
There’s no shortage of dramatic moments on The Madison, Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan’s latest Paramount+ series, but few compare for pure cliffhanger tension like the way the sixth episode of the show’s first season comes to a close. In fact, while the series has already wrapped up its second season, even the show’s stars didn’t know what note the first outing would end on.
“The funny thing,” Beau Garrett, who plays Clyburn daughter Abigail on the series, told T&C ahead of the series premiere, “is the end of that last episode of the first season changed. So I just finally saw what they ended on, because that wasn’t originally the ending.” Garrett added more generally of the series, “The wild thing about shooting a Taylor Sharon show—I don’t know if this is common for all of his shows—but scripts fly in very last minute. So you have no idea what you’re going to shoot.”
Elle Chapman, who stars as Abigail’s sister Paige, echoed the sentiment, explaining, “The end that we’d originally shot leads into season two, which I think works better.” So what exactly happened in those dramatic final moments?
Advertisement
Stacy and her therapist, Dr. Phill Yorn (Will Arnett).Emerson Miller/Paramount+
Spoilers ahead for the season 1 finale of The Madison.
At its heart, the story of The Madison is about Stacy Clyburn (played by Michelle Pfeiffer) and her two daughters (Garrett and Chapman) navigating the onslaught of grief that comes when their world is turned upside down by the unexpected death of Stacy’s husband, Preston (Kurt Russell.)
After spending most of the season in Montana’s Madison River Valley, the place Preston loved most, the family traveled back to New York City to return to their previous lives. Stacy, though, remained unsettled and unable to cope with her old life, which she explained to her therapist now felt meaningless. Escaping a well-intended wake held in Stacy’s apartment by her best friend Liliana (Rebecca Spencer) Stacy drives away in a cab toward the end of the finale, leaving everything, including her cellphone, behind. Hours later, unable to find their mother, a distraught Abigail calls the police to report that Stacy is missing. The following morning, unbeknownst to her daughters, Stacy is discovered back in Montana, sleeping next to Preston’s grave.
“Who knows what’s going to happen, whether [we] go back to Montana or not,” Garrett teased. “She is there, but what is the family going to do in her absence? She clearly is the glue in this family, so they don’t know how to really survive without her. She wants them to figure it out.”
Thus far, no announcements have been made about when The Madison’s second season will debut, but it’s safe to say that fans will be eagerly waiting to see how all the drama unfolds.
You Might Also Like
25 Watch Brands That Belong in Every Collection
The 50 Best Animated Films to Watch With Your Kids
The 28 Best Westerns of All Time
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
