It is now double-secret official: Kevin Costner says he won’t be returning to Yellowstone, ever.
Costner made the proclamation in an Instagram video posted late Thursday — hours after the lonnnng-delayed back half of Yellowstone Season 5 finally got a precise premiere date — bringing to a close an exhausting and often-circular 17 months’ worth of rumors, he said/they said, and speculation.
“I just 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 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 shares in the video below, alluding to his big-screen Western franchise, Horizon: An American Saga, which will his theaters with “Chapter 1” next Friday, June 28.
“[Yellowstone] was something that really changed me,” he goes on to say. “I loved it, and I know you loved it, and I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning. I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop, and I’ll see you at the movies.”
Reports of Costner’s Yellowstone status being in flux amid “disagreements over shooting schedules” first surfaced in February 2023. Since then, there have been myriad reports and sound bites, from both sides. At one point, Costner reportedly proposed a one-week-only work schedule, which Paramount Network declined.
Before the writers’ strike began last May, series co-creator Taylor Sheridan had finished scripts for the back half of Season 5 that did not include Costner, after the decision to split Season 5 into two halves interfered with production on Horizon. Amid reports of Costner’s behind-the-scenes demands and tension with Sheridan, Costner had since said he’d “love” to do more Yellowstone, if “I feel really comfortable with it.” But now we know that his return is not to be.
Are you disappointed that Costner won’t be back on Yellowstone? Are you at all surprised? Drop a comment with your thoughts below.
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