Kevin Costner Looked Back Fondly on His 'Great' Time Doing 'Yellowstone' Despite His Tumultuous Exit
When Kevin Costner first left Yellowstone, he didn’t leave it in the best of terms. But, as a new interview indicates, his time in the show didn’t leave him with a bad taste in his mouth. In fact, he still thinks of the show quite fondly.
“Yellowstone was a great moment in my life,” Costner, who recently confirmed he wouldn’t be returning for seasoon 5B of the show, told Entertainment Tonight. “I remember reading it, and thinking I wanted to do this. Maybe do one season or just one long movie, and ended up doing five [seasons].”
But, as tensions on set began to rise between costner and show creator Taylor Sheridan, Costner began to look elsewhere for other opportunities, including his Western movie Horizon: An American Saga. “It was important for me to be able to do other things and, you know, try to make that work,” he told the outlet. “[But] I just wasn’t able to make it work.”
Three days before this interview, Costner confirmed once and for all his official exit from the show in a recent video on Instagram.
“I just wanted to reach out and let you know that, after this long year-and-a-half of working on Horizon, and doing all the things that that’s required, and thinking about Yellowstone — that beloved series that I love, that I know you love — I just realized that I am not going to be able to continue season 5b, or into the future,” Costner said.
“It was something that really changed me,” Costner continued of the show, in which he played John Dutton. “I loved it and I know you loved it. I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning. I love the relationships that I’ve been able to develop. And I’ll see you at the movies.”
Prior to the announcement, Costner had been open about the struggles he faced in production that led to his then-temporary departure. “I made a contract for seasons five, six, and seven. In February, after a two- or three-month negotiation, they made another contract,” Costner told Deadline in May. “They wanted to redo that one, and instead of seasons six and seven, it was 5A and 5B, and maybe we’ll do six.”
“They weren’t able to make those,” he detailed. “Horizon was set in the middle, but Yellowstone was first position. I fit [Horizon] into the gaps. They just kept moving their gaps.”
Despite his many misunderstandings with Sheridan and the production team, we’re glad Costner can still hold on to the great memories he made on set.
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