Why Did Kevin Costner Leave Yellowstone?

Created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, Yellowstone premiered on Paramount TV in 2018 and has since become one of the most viewed linear TV shows of the past five years. The series follows John Dutton (Kevin Costner), a cattle rancher in Yellowstone Park whose land shares a border with the Broken Rock Indian Reservation in Wyoming and Montana. Along with his children, John tries to live up to the legacy of westward expansion forged by his ancestors while dealing with the native population whose land has been exploited for financial gain.

2023 saw reports begin to surface that Kevin Costner’s time in Yellowstone may be ending before the conclusion of Season 5. According to Variety in February 2023, Costner’s “rigid film schedule” was cited as the primary reason for his willingness to depart the popular series. Per the report, Costner was available to film scenes for fewer and fewer days as the production advanced. However, at the time, a Paramount Network executive pushed back on the report and claimed that Costner was going nowhere.

By September 2023, Costner confirmed his exit from Yellowstone following Season 5, which has been divided into two parts. As reported by People, Costner took issue with Season 5 being broken into two halves, with the eventual series finale in November 2024 interfering with his schedule for the upcoming Civil War movie Horizon: An American Saga. With the added drama of Costner’s marital divorce and public falling out with Taylor Sheridan that may result in a legal battle in court, there’s been a lot of confusion surrounding Costner’s exit from Yellowst one in recent weeks. As such, it’s time to clarify what transpired and explain why Costner departed Yellowstone 

Scheduling Conflicts

The first reason cited for Costner’s departure from Yellowstone involves conflicting shooting schedules. According to Variety, Costner was available less and less as Yellowstone continued to film through Season 5, which made it harder to justify the movie star’s high price tag. Meanwhile, showrunner Taylor Sheridan announced plans to expand the Yellowstone universe with two new spinoffs entitled 1944 and 2024. When Matthew McConaughey entered negotiations to star in the spinoff, rumblings about Costner’s exit became louder.

Despite the scheduling conflicts, Paramount responded to Costner’s potential exit in February 2023, stating:

“We have no news to report. Kevin Costner is a big part of Yellowstone, and we hope that’s the case for a long time to come. Thanks to the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan, we are always working on franchise expansions of this incredible world he has built. Matthew McConaughey is a phenomenal talent with whom we’d love to partner.”

Over the next few months, the reasons for Costner’s departure from the show would become clearer. Beyond the cited scheduling snafus and payment problems, creative differences between Costner and Sheridan became more apparent over time, the details of which came out during Costner’s public divorce hearings. The main issue was the time allotted for Costner to film Season 5 relative to his past seasons and the multiple commitments on his upcoming movie Horizon: An American Saga

Kevin Costner’s Legal Drama

More details about Costner’s exit from Yellowstone came to light during his public divorce hearings from Christine Baumgartner in September 2023. According to Deadline, Costner threatened legal action against Paramount over a hard-fought negotiation for his filming schedule. According to Costner, he agreed to shoot Season 5 of Yellowstone in one continuous period of filming. However, when Sheridan decided to split Season 5 in half and shoot each segment at different times, Costner could no longer accommodate the schedule. Costner was already committed to writing, directing, and starring in the epic Civil War drama Horizon: American Saga, and the late decision to delay the second half of Yellowstone Season 5 conflicted with Costner’s schedule to make his upcoming passion project.

Per Deadline’s report, Costner was already compensated for starring in Season 5 of Yellowstone and was offered $24 million to star in a potential sixth and seventh season of the show. However, Costner claimed that he’d probably go to court to settle the dispute about wrongful termination, underscoring his creative differences with Taylor. According to Costner:

“We did negotiate. There were issues about creative. Somewhere along the line, they (Sheridan) wanted to do a 5A and 5B, it affected Horizon. I was going to do my movie Horizon and leave that show, do my movie, then do B. A show I was only doing once a year I was now doing twice.”

In addition to scheduling conflicts and creative differences, Deadline suggests that the feud between Costner and Sheridan also derives from on-set egos and personal control while making the show. During his public divorce hearings in September 2023, Costner admitted, “I couldn’t help them anymore. We tried to negotiate, they offered me less money than previous seasons.”

Costner reportedly asked for $12 million to return for Yellowstone 5B, but the producers walked away. It’s also worth noting that the first half of Yellowstone Season 5 concluded on Jan. 1, 2023. Paramount recently announced the second half of Yellowstone Season 5 will return in November 2024. By all accounts, Costner will not appear in the second half, and Yellowstone will conclude after Season 5 to make way for spinoffs 1944, 2024, and 6666.

Horizon: An American Saga

With Kevin Costner departing Yellowstone Season 5 over creative differences, financial compensation, and scheduling conflicts relative to Horizon: An American Saga, it’s worth wondering what the Oscar-winner’s new movie is all about. Horizon: An American Saga is a sprawling two-part western drama that tracks 15 crucial years from the pre-Civil War era to post-reconstruction. The movie marks Costner’s first directorial effort since the acclaimed 2003 western Open Range.

Along with Costner starring in the lead role, Horizon: An American Saga boasts a star-studded cast that includes Siena Miller, Jena Malone, Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, and more. Costner co-wrote the screenplay with Jon Baird. Horizon: An American Saga Chapter 1 is slated to open in theaters on June 28, 2024, and Chapter 2 will come out on August 16, 2024. That means, while fans won’t see Costner return to Yellowstone in the fall of 2024, they can witness why he left the show to make Horizon in the summer. Stream Yellowstone on Peacock.