Kevin Costner in Yellowstone.Photo: Kevin Lynch for Paramount Network
YellowstonevisionaryTaylor Sheridanadmits he’s not entirely pleased that starKevin Costnerisexiting the hit series, but he promises Costner’s characterJohn Duttonwon’t pay the price on screen for anything that’s gone down off camera.
“I’m disappointed,” Sheridan, 53, toldThe Hollywood ReporterWednesday about Costner’s departure. “It truncates the closure of his character. It doesn’t alter it, but it truncates it.”
“There are lots of places where a way of life that existed for 150 years is slamming against a new way of life, but the challenges are completely different,” Sheridan toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “There are a lot of places you can tell this story.”
Emerson Miller/Paramount Network/Courtesy Everett Collection
Costner, 68, sought to work fewer and fewer days onYellowstoneto focus on his own Western epic, the four-part movie seriesHorizon. In May,Paramount Network confirmedYellowstonewould endafter the second half of season 5 (which was slated to debut in November, but is contingent upon the as-yet-unresolvedWriters Guild strike). There are still talks to bring Costner back to film scenes tobring John’s storyline to an end, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.
Despitespeculation about tension behind the scenes, Sheridan maintains his praise for Costner’s work on the series. “His creation of John Dutton is symbolic and powerful … and I’ve never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn’t work out on the phone,” the Oscar-nominatedHell or High Waterwriter explained.
He also noted toTHRthat Costner “took a lot of this on the chin and I don’t know that anyone deserves it,” referencing the reported friction. “His movie seems to be a great priority to him and he wants to shift focus. I sure hope [the movie is] worth it — and that it’s a good one.”
Looking ahead, Sheridan says he didn’t initially intend to keep the Dutton’s patriarch alive forYellowstone’s seriesfinale— but now that the episode is growing ever nearer, he’s had to get down to brass tacks. He can make one promise: John will not go out in a fiery crash.
“I was killed in a f—-you car crash!” he joked, referring to the fate of hisSons of Anarchycharacter David Hale.
“I don’t do f—-you car crashes,” Sheridan said. “Whether [Dutton’s fate] inflates [Costner’s] ego or insults is collateral damage that I don’t factor in with regard to storytelling.”
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images
In February,Deadlinereported that Paramount Network was in talks withMcConaughey to lead aYellowstonespinoffwhile Costner was looking to reduce hisYellowstoneschedule to work on Horizon. Paramount Network laterconfirmedYellowstonewould end, and that it ordered a spinoff series for the Paramount+ streaming platform. (WhileYellowstoneis available to stream onYellowstone,Paramount+ is home to its various prequel series, including,1883and1923, and will presumably stream the forthcoming6666spinoff that’s currently in development.)
The ending ofYellowstonewas announced days after Costner’s estranged wifeChristine Baumgartnerfiled fordivorce after 18 years of marriage. In court documents filed in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Barbara Friday, Christine, 49, claimed she"did not pressure” Costner to leaveYellowstonebefore the split.
“I have avoided being public about the reasons for our divorce. I have done this to protect our family’s privacy. I did not pressure Kevin to leave theYellowstoneshow,” Christine wrote in the document.
A source similarly toldPEOPLEin May that the split “has nothing to do withYellowstone. The two situations are unrelated.”
Reps for both Costner and Christine did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s requests for comment on Wednesday morning.
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Yellowstone’s first four seasons and the first half of season 5 are streaming now on Peacock.
source: people.com
