Following the announcement of Costner’s controversial exit from Yellowstone, several key reasons point to why his departure was sudden but logical.
Is Kevin Costner Leaving Yellowstone Because Of His New Western Movie?
Despite being the iconic patriarch of the Dutton family in Yellowstone, Costner is a very prominent actor in a number of other popular films as well as an Academy Award-winning director in his own right. His 1991 western adventure drama Dances With Wolves won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, cementing Costner’s ability as a filmmaker with the likes of Clint Eastwood, Robert Redford, and Mel Gibson. This is likely why Costner is taking precedence with his personal project Horizon: An American Saga and its upcoming sequel instead of continuing to prioritize his life, career, and schedule around Yellowstone, for which he has not directed any episodes.
Costner’s availability has certainly shrunken due to his commitment to Horizon: An American Saga, which he co-wrote, starred in, and directed. Costner’s son Hayes is also confirmed to appear onscreen in the movie, which adds another personal element to Horizon: An American Saga that makes it more understandable as to why Costner is so passionate about the film and not about Yellowstone. In many ways, Horizon and Horizon 2 are set to be somewhat of spiritual successors to Dances With Wolves, the project that has represented the pinnacle of Costner’s artistic work in his career. Costner could also be aiming to surpass the outstanding seven Oscars that he earned for Dances With Wolves with Horizon.
There Have Been A Lot Of Reports About BTS Drama On Yellowstone
Another major contributing factor to Costner’s departure from Yellowstone is the whirlwind of behind-the-scenes drama rumors that might have affected some of the backstage dynamics between the show’s major players. In particular, the relationship between Costner and Sheridan is speculated to have been strained by Costner’s commitment to his Horizons projects which resulted in his availability to shoot Yellowstone season 5 to reduce to just 10 days of production. Costner disputed reports of Yellowstone’s behind-the-scenes drama, stating that he was still obeying his initial contract. This back-and-forth between Sheridan and Costner brought about a conflict of heightened egos and limited availability.
Further on-set instances and disagreements between Costner and Sheridan created a lingering tension that grew alongside the success of Yellowstone. Sheridan alleged that Costner would unfairly ask for more money in order to promote the show which created an uncomfortable dynamic between him and Paramount. Costner’s alleged greed, along with the accusation that Costner refused to alter his agreed-upon shooting schedule after contracting the COVID-19 virus during the filming of Yellowstone
Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone Contract Is Officially Over
Previously unreleased court documents have recently proven that Kevin Costner’s contract to appear in Yellowstone is officially over. This thwarts any hope of there being some type of renegotiation that would give Costner the option to appear in future episodes of Yellowstone in a hypothetical season 6 and beyond. In the Yellowstone court documents, Costner revealed that he will be making significantly less money from his limited participation in Yellowstone season 5, indicating that John Dutton might not be getting the grand or satisfying send-off that fans of the series had been hoping for.
Without any additional incentive of compensation or the demands of any active contract, Costner could very well have an incredibly diminished role in the final six episodes of the acclaimed series. With all these behind-the-scenes tensions in mind, Costner might decide to forego any sense of obligation to send his iconic John Dutton character off with a powerful resolution. Unfortunately, the final episodes of Yellowstone have several reasons to justify the presumption that it could face a similar disappointing fate to Game of Thrones, especially considering the effect of the SAG and WGA strikes that have currently halted all productions in the entertainment industry and could rush or alter Yellowstone’s outcome.
Why Yellowstone’s Main Show Couldn’t Continue Without Kevin Costner
A Yellowstone sequel series was the best choice to handle the absence of Kevin Costner since the show simply would have suffered if it had tried to carry on without him. Considering that a number of Yellowstone spin-off series from Sheridan were already in the works, ending Yellowstone with Costner’s departure will allow a clean break from the original series that will allow other characters to appear in more prominent roles under a different title. Costner’s major absence would have left too big of shoes to fill for any one actor, which is why starting anew with Matthew McConaughey under a fresh brand will essentially lay Dutton’s story and Costner’s BTS drama to rest once and for all.
Yellowstone’s successful prequel series 1883 and 1923 already proved that the franchise could survive an expansion without Costner under new stories and titles. It is truly a credit to Sheridan’s mastery of storytelling and craft of the Western genre that he is able to generate such a high number of consistent series within the Yellowstone universe. Many exceptional shows, such as House of Cards, have tried and failed to continue without their irreplaceable protagonist and have found out the hard way that the show just couldn’t be the same. Sheridan is wise to not risk finding out whether Yellowstone could carry on without Costner and likely knows that it couldn’t despite having a hard time admitting it.