Kevin Costner is pushing back against reports that he is solely to blame for his departure from the hit series Yellowstone. In an interview with People, the Oscar winner detailed the troubled production schedule for Taylor Sheridan’s western series, and expressed disappointment that no one stepped up to dispel the rumors and lies about his departure.
Costner played John Dutton, the patriarch of a family that owned the Yellowstone Ranch, the biggest ranch in Montana. The series followed Dutton’s fight to save his ranch from developers, while facing scandal and heartbreak within his own family. Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, and Wes Bentley co-star as his children.
The series is currently in its fifth and final season, which was split into two parts. The first part aired its last episode in January 2023. Production on the second half of the season is currently underway, and is scheduled to air this fall. The delay between filming episodes, as Costner was in the midst of filming his western epic Horizon, ultimately caused a scheduling conflict. He said he waited for scripts to arrive and production schedules to be set, but neither happened:
There was a moment where that show for me stopped for 14 months…That’s the fact. I could have done a lot of things in that time, but I wasn’t aware that that was going to happen.
Costner also expressed disappointment that, as friction grew between himself and creator/showrunner Sheridan over delays, no efforts were made to combat misinformation in the media, which placed all the blame on him:
I was disappointed that nobody on [the studio] side…ever stepped up to defend what it was I actually did for them. There came a moment where I thought, ‘Wow, when is somebody going to say something about what I have done versus what I haven’t done?’
Costner appears to be referencing Paramount and MTV Entertainment Studios, who produce the series with Sheridan’s Bosque Ranch Productions. Costner cited a report that claimed he only wanted to work a single week on the series, when in fact he said the delay in production only left him with a week to shoot before having to leave to finish production on Horizon.
The Future of Yellowstone
With the series nearing an end, it remains to be seen how Costner’s departure will be handled. In the first half of season five, Costner’s John Dutton is elected governor of Montana, in an effort to use the office to save his ranch. By not returning for the final episodes, an abrupt change in the storyline must occur to explain his absence.
The final six episodes currently in production will not only seal the fate of Costner’s Dutton, it will reset the storyline for a sequel series. As soon as Yellowstone ends, a spinoff series will begin production. Several key members of the Yellowstone cast have already signed on for the new series: Cole Hauser, who plays fan-favorite ranch foreman Rip; Kelly Reilly, who plays John Dutton’s daughter Beth; and Luke Grimes, who plays Dutton’s son Kayce are all reprising their roles in the sequel/spinoff.
Costner has said repeatedly in recent months that he hoped to return to Yellowstone, if only to film some sort of closure for the character. He told People:
I loved the show. I liked the people on the show. I liked what it was about. I love that world.
Costner’s final decision to leave the series was revealed in a video the actor released on social media last week. Neither Paramount Network, Sheridan, nor the Yellowstone cast have responded to Costner’s new comments.
The Yellowstone franchise has previously expanded to two spinoff series: 1883, which told the story of the Dutton family’s journey out west, and 1923, which stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren and follows the early days of the Dutton Yellowstone Ranch.
