Kevin Costner Breaks Silence About His Yellowstone Exit, Says He’ll “Go To Court” Over Premature Ending
Kevin Costner finally breaks his silence on his Yellowstone exit after season 5 and says he is planning to go to court over the show's early ending.
- Kevin Costner breaks silence on Yellowstone exit, revealing plans to go to court and citing creative issues with Taylor Sheridan.
- Talks for Costner to work through season 7 broke down over creative differences with Sheridan, leading to his premature exit.
- Costner’s divorce case testimony suggests that the show’s future is uncertain, with the actor expressing frustration with the producers.
With the show’s future still in limbo amid the ongoing strikes, Kevin Costner has finally broken his silence on his Yellowstone exit. After leading the star-studded neo-Western for four seasons, Costner was revealed to be leaving the hit show after season 5, with various reporting indicating it stemmed from both creative problems with co-creator/showrunner Taylor Sheridan and scheduling conflicts for his planned four-movie Western epic, Horizon: An American Saga. His exit resulted in season 5 being the show’s last while a sequel spin-off with Matthew McConaughey leading planned in its stead.
After initially refusing to address any plans for the show’s future, a new report from Deadline reveals Kevin Costner breaking his silence on his Yellowstone exit. In his latest testimony for his ongoing divorce case, the star revealed that he will “probably go to court” in regard to his premature exit from the show. He also confirmed that he was in talks at one point to work all the way through a season 7, though said they broke down over creative issues with Sheridan and that in his attempts to “break the logjam“, the producers ultimately “walked away.”
Costner’s Lawsuit Plans Could Derail Yellowstone’s Planned Ending
Up to the time of writing, Costner had remained largely silent on the nature of his Yellowstone exit, seeking instead to promote Horizon during its production while his divorce case has led to some light being shed about the matter. Costner recently refused to answer questions about the nature of his departure from the show, while court documents previously confirmed that his contract had come to an end, with the star stating in the trial that he would “earn substantially less in 2023 than I did in 2022
Said participation was expected to be Costner returning to film Yellowstone season 5 part 2, which would bring the mainline show to a close and end his tenure as John Dutton, though the actor’s plans to sue undisclosed parties for his exit could ultimately derail this. The ongoing Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes have kept production on the show’s final episodes on an indefinite hold, and while Costner didn’t give any timeline on when he would move forward with legal action against those he’s upset with, the actor could end up bringing the lawsuit forward before production even begins.
Costner’s confirmation that he was in talks for at least two more seasons of Yellowstone further indicates the show’s ultimate ending plans have been derailed by his premature exit. With the show currently in the height of its popularity, thanks in part to the success of its spinoffs 1883 and 1923, it’s unclear how long Sheridan intended to keep the mainline title on the air, but Costner’s dramatic leaving could very well prove troublesome for the franchise’s future.
