“Yellowstone” is currently filming its final episodes without former lead Kevin Costner, but the actor has expressed a willingness to reprise his role as John Dutton under the right circumstances. During an appearance on “Today” to promote his upcoming film “Horizon,” Costner reiterated his interest in returning for the second half of the fifth season.
“I’ve supported that thing and I’ve loved it,” Costner shared. “It’s been really important to me. I would love to go back under the right circumstances, which I think all of us want. For me, it really needs to be the right circumstances.”
He added, “There’s always a chance. I love the show, and you’ve got to be really clear about that.”
Since April, Costner has been vocal about his desire to conclude his character’s storyline on “Yellowstone.” The fifth and final season was divided into two parts, with the first eight episodes featuring Costner airing in fall 2022. The last six episodes are now in production and are scheduled to start airing in November.
Costner previously told Entertainment Tonight, “I’d like to be able to do it but we haven’t been able to. I thought I was going to make seven [seasons], but right now we’re at five. So how it works out—I hope it does—but they’ve got a lot of different shows going on. Maybe it will. Maybe this will circle back to me. If it does and I feel really comfortable with it, I’d love to do it.”
Speculation about Costner’s departure has been rampant, with the actor revealing to GQ in May that his decision was influenced by the split of Season 5 into two parts. Costner was committed to filming Season 5 but was concerned that the split would conflict with his work on his passion project, “Horizon.”
“Their big plan was to suddenly do eight now and then in the fall do eight more,” Costner explained. “I said, ‘I have a contract to do “Horizon,” and I have people and money.’ I think there was a belief that I couldn’t get it mounted, but I didn’t really care what anybody believed.”
As the start date for “Horizon” approached, scripts for the second half of Season 5 failed to materialize, leaving Costner with only a week to finish “Yellowstone” before committing to his other project.
“And somebody picked up the idea that I only wanted to work one week. And that has been a carryover thing that I have seen in magazines: that I’ve only wanted to work one week,” Costner said. “My big disappointment is I never heard Paramount or 101 really come to my defense and say, ‘That’s not true. He was going to do three more seasons.’ I started off only giving three seasons, ended up doing five, and got embroiled in a thing that I don’t feel one person over there ever told the story correctly, ever, about what I had done and what I’ve been willing to do.”
“That’s really bothered me, that none of them would actually try to set the record straight,” Costner concluded.
Paramount Network announced in May that filming was underway for the final episodes of “Yellowstone.” Production was initially scheduled for last year but was delayed due to the Hollywood strikes.
