Yellowstone is one of the most critically acclaimed TV series of the 21st century.
But it’s wrapping up without its top star.
And now Kevin Costner revealed the shocking reason he quit Yellowstone.
Costner dishes on his Yellowstone exit
Yellowstone is set to air the second half of its final season on Paramount+ this November.
Costner’s John Dutton character won’t appear.
In an interview with Deadline, Costner explained he didn’t shoot any scenes for the series’ final episodes because the writers never put him in any of the scripts.
“I didn’t shoot 5B,” Costner explained. “There was no script.”
Coster said his contract called for him to film seven seasons of Yellowstone.
But the studio changed their mind and came back with a new deal for a two-part fifth season with the hope of doing a season six before deciding to pull the plug.
“In February, after a two- or three-month negotiation, they made another contract. They wanted to redo that one, and instead of seasons 6 and 7, it was 5A and 5B, and maybe we’ll do 6. They weren’t able to make those,” Costner added,
“. . . They were silent and that bothered me in the world of how you do things. Why don’t you stick up for me? I went and sold this thing for you,” Costner explained.
Coster told Deadline what bothered him was the studio not defending him when rumors circulated that he quit Yellowstone to work on his Western-epic Horizon movie series.
In the interview, Costner revealed he was only originally contracted to do one season.
But then Costner agreed to do three seasons and eventually five.
“I was going to only do one season. I made it for three. I fulfilled three. So, I went from one to three, then I did a fourth one for them, and they wanted to do three more. So, I made the contract to do that. They imploded,” Costner added.
Costner pulls back the curtain
Costner explained Yellowstone was always in “first position” but that show production was shut down for 14 months and he needed to work.
“I had a contract to do [seasons] 5, 6 and 7. I was contracted to do that. There’s nothing I could have done to get out of that, nor was I trying to just figure out how, when we started. When we finished, I wanted to do ‘Horizon.’ It all happened because they shut down one whole season, didn’t tell anybody, and I didn’t work for 14 months,” Costner stated.
“All I did was protect myself, but I didn’t put myself in first position, over ‘Yellowstone.’ I filled the gaps,” Costner continued.
But Costner said that the ‘gaps” kept shifting because of various strikes in Hollywood and studio delays, which made filming Yellowstone impossible.
Taylor Sheridan responds
Series creator Taylor Sheridan said he could work out any differences with Costner over the phone but this time was different as Costner and the studio’s attorneys all got involved.
“Once lawyers get involved, then people don’t get to talk to each other and start saying things that aren’t true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting,” Sheridan remarked. “He took a lot of this on the chin and I don’t know that anyone deserves it.”
Costner opening to returning to Yellowstone
Sheridan expanded the Yellowstone universe with the 2024 spinoff, which takes place after Yellowstone ends.
Costner told Deadline he’d be open to a return if the script was good and made sense.
However, he still felt ill will toward Sheridan and Paramount making it seem like Costner quit Yellowstone to go Hollywood and make movies while leaving his castmates in the lurch.
“If they’ve got so many other things going on, maybe this circles back and it’s a really cool two seasons,” he suggested.
“Or end it, if the writing’s there and I’m happy with it. I’m open to that. But I took a beating over these guys not speaking up for me and allowing crazy stories to come out,” Costner lamented.
“I’m not happy about that,” Costner concluded. “But if the writing is there, I will be there too. They had first position. I didn’t do ‘Horizon’ because I was tired of doing ‘Yellowstone.’ That’s a bulls*** story. I didn’t do ‘Horizon’ to compete with ‘Yellowstone.’ This is something I’ve had [for] a long time.”
