As iconic as Costner’s performance in Yellowstone was, however, he almost didn’t get the part. When Sheridan was first shopping the script for Yellowstone, he actually got a different famous Western actor to agree to the leading role: Robert Redford. Had Redford actually ended up playing John Dutton III, Yellowstone would have ended up being a very different show.
Robert Redford Could’ve Been John Dutton In HBO’s Yellowstone
In 2023, Taylor Sheridan said in an interview that he originally pitched Yellowstone to HBO instead of Paramount, and that HBO’s executives wanted Robert Redford to play John Dutton III instead of Kevin Costner. Sheridan originally pitched Costner as the leading man. When HBO told him they wanted Redford instead, Sheridan went to Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah, convinced Redford to join the show, and brought the news back to HBO.
When he told HBO that he had gotten Redford to agree to play John Dutton, however, HBO executives said they wanted someone like Redford, not Redford himself.
Taylor Sheridan: “[HBO executives] didn’t see it [when I pitched Costner as the lead. They said, ‘We want Robert Redford.’ They said, ‘If you can get us Robert Redford, we’ll greenlight the pilot.’
I drive to Sundance and spend the day with him and he agrees to play John Dutton. I call the senior vice president in charge of production and say, ‘I got him!’
‘You got who?’
‘Robert Redford.’
‘What?!’
‘You said if I got Robert Redford, you’d greenlight the show.’
And he says — and you can’t make this s**t up — ‘We meant a Robert Redford type.'”
Eventually, HBO passed on Yellowstone and the series went ahead at NBC as Sheridan originally intended, with Kevin Costner in the lead role. The fact that Robert Redford actually agreed to play John Dutton, however, meant that we were extremely close to getting a version of Yellowstone starring Redford instead of Costner on HBO instead of Paramount.
Why HBO Didn’t Want To Make Yellowstone
The main reason Kevin Costner eventually ended up with the role of John Dutton III instead of Robert Redford is because HBO ultimately passed on creating Yellowstone. When Paramount began producing the show, Costner was in the leading role. So much would have been different if HBO had greenlit the show in the first place, so it’s worth considering why they passed up Sheridan’s script.
There’s no official word on why HBO passed on Yellowstone, but there are a few likely reasons. The first is that Yellowstone isn’t exactly HBO’s typical show; HBO has done Westerns like Deadwood before, but the company largely prefers more urban storytelling. Additionally, Robert Redford likely would have had a larger salary than Kevin Costner at the time, and HBO may have balked at the price tag.
Both Costner and Redford were legends of the Western genre in 2018, but Redford had a longer and more critically acclaimed career. With a higher salary, HBO may have estimated that Yellowstone would need a larger following in its debut season than it could achieve, and thus passed on the show. Though we’ll likely never know exactly why HBO passed on Yellowstone, we can speculate about what its version of the show would have looked like.
What Robert Redford’s John Dutton Would’ve Been Like
Redford has, through the years, traditionally played more likable main characters. Costner, on the other hand, has more experience playing an unlikable character who has enough gravitas to keep viewers watching. Redford’s version of John Dutton likely would have been more likable and less reprehensible, which would have taken some of the family conflict and drama out of Yellowstone.
Additionally, Robert Redford was 18 years older than Kevin Costner, and his version of John Dutton would have similarly been older. While Redford’s age may have made some of John’s health problems more believable, he probably wouldn’t have been able to bring the same physicality and presence Costner did, especially in John’s rare fight scenes.
Behind the camera, Redford may have also been different from Costner. Costner infamously left the cast of Yellowstone midway through season 5, but Redford may not have lasted as long. Redford (mostly) retired from acting in 2018, the same year Yellowstone premiered, and he probably wouldn’t have signed on for five seasons. In that sense, it’s likely for the best that Kevin Costner got the starring role of Yellowstone instead of Robert Redford.
