The final episodes of the hit Western drama won’t feature Costner’s John Dutton.
When the second half of Yellowstone season five premieres tonight, the episodes will not feature one key character: Kevin Costner’s John Dutton.
While it remains to be seen how Taylor Sheridan will write Costner off the show (besides Sheridan saying, “I don’t do fuck-you car crashes,” referring to the death of Patrick Dempsey’s Grey’s Anatomy character), the decision about why Costner isn’t in Yellowstone anymore was reportedly his own.
“I want 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’s required, and thinking about Yellowstone, that beloved series that I love, that I know you love, I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue Season 5B or into the future,” Costner said in June.
He added, “It was something that really changed me. I loved it. And I know you loved it. And I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning and I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop and I’ll see you at the movies.”
Horizon refers to his film series (part one premiered this past spring, with part two delayed and part three reportedly still in the works).
Costner originally declined to participate in Yellowstone season five, part two over reported scheduling conflicts with Horizon.
“We very rarely started when we said we would and we didn’t finish when we said we would,” he told GQ in May 2024. “And I was okay with that. I really was. I was okay with it, but it wasn’t a trend that could continue for me.” According to Costner, he tried to make it work, but “the scripts never came.”
A Paramount Network spokesperson said, “Kevin has been a big part of Yellowstone’s success.
While we had hoped that we would continue working with him, unfortunately, we could not find a window that worked for him, all the other talent, and our production needs in order to move forward together. We respect that Kevin has prioritized his new film series and we wish him the best.”
Last year, Sheridan told the Hollywood Reporter, “My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered… 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. But 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.
He took a lot of this on the chin and I don’t know that anyone deserves it. 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.” He added, “I’m disappointed. It truncates the closure of his character. It doesn’t alter it, but it truncates it.”
Costner told GQ any possible return to the Yellowstone-verse is between him and Sheridan. “Taylor and I know what the conditions are for coming back, and I’ll just keep that between ourselves,” he said.
“And if we can’t get to it, it’s because at the end of the day, it’s unreasonable for them or something.”
Despite it all, Costner said he still loves playing John Dutton: “I love that character. I love that world. I am a person that is very script oriented. And if the scripts aren’t there now, I need to know what I am.
I want to make sure that the character lines up with what’s important to me too. And that’s pretty simple. That’s just between, again, Taylor and myself. Can we ever get there? I don’t know.”
