You might have heard there’s some drama going on out West, and we’re not just talking about all those bodies dumped at the train station. No, we’re talking drama behind the scenes surrounding two different westerns: Taylor Sheridan’s mega-hit series Yellowstone and Kevin Costner’s new drama film franchise Horizon. Yellowstone’s final part of its final season finally premiered on November 10, but it’s not what it was — its lead, John Dutton, who was played by Kevin Costner, is no longer there. Costner, due to scheduling conflicts with Horizon and associated drama (ooooh), has left the show. Yellowstone is a ginormous hit for Paramount, with its season-five premiere pulling in 12.1 million viewers, according to Entertainment Weekly. Meanwhile, Horizon is a huge gamble for Costner — he’s the writer, the star, and the director, and he’s put about $35 million of his own dollars into it (decidedly not earned back in the first movie’s initial theatrical run). So is this town – the western genre – big enough for the both of ’em?
Below, the fate of Yellowstone following Costner’s exit and the tragic tale that led up to it.
First of all — is the biggest hit on TV ending?
That’s what Paramount says. The part two of season five premiered on November 10, 2024, and will reportedly conclude the series. However, stars Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser are reportedly in talks for another, per Puck on August 28.
It was first reported in February 2023 that Costner might be leaving the show after its sixth season while making himself available for only a week of shooting time to the back six episodes of season five (the first batch finished airing on January 2, 2023). Then, Camp Costner fired back. “The idea that Kevin was only willing to work one week on the second half of season five of Yellowstone is an absolute lie,” his litigator, Marty Singer, told Puck. “It’s ridiculous — and anyone suggesting it shouldn’t be believed for one second. As everyone who knows anything about Kevin is well aware, he is incredibly passionate about the show and has always gone way above and beyond to ensure its success.”
Okay, but is Costner leaving?
Yep, he’s done being a Dutton. In the premiere of the second part of Yellowstone’s final, fifth season, John Dutton is …
Found dead. His son, played by Wes Bentley, hires assassins to kill him and stage the scene to look like a suicide. “I think Taylor’s decision to begin this way was incredibly brave,” Christina Voros, who directed the episode, told The Hollywood Reporter. “I think it is testament to his faith in the characters and the actors who embody them to go, ‘Let’s not make this about the incident. Let’s make this about how these human beings exist in the aftermath.’”
How did we get here?
At first, there was hope. At a 2023 PaleyFest panel, Keith Cox, head of scripted content for MTV Entertainment Studios came bearing the kind of good news that counts as good news only when there’s drama. “What I can say is that our star, the face of our show, and our executive producer are very confident he is going to continue with our show,” Cox said. But on May 3, 2023, Entertainment Tonight reported that Costner will not be returning to the show after season five. Initially, that meant he should be around for the still-unfilmed season 5B — if they could figure out a schedule.
In September 2023, Puck reported that, pre-strike, Costner actually wanted to come back in order to wrap up the character. He apparently had a meeting with Sheridan to potentially get on the second part of the fifth season despite Sheridan already having written most of the episodes without Costner’s John Dutton. The talks … did not work out.
Suddenly, on April 11, 2024 (yes, that is almost a year since it was reported he would not be returning to the show), Costner was talking about returning again. How would that work? Who can say? “I thought I was going to make seven seasons, but right now we’re at five,” Costner told Entertainment Tonight while promoting Horizon. “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.”
Is this all about scheduling?
Kinda? “We very rarely started when we said we would and we didn’t finish when we said we would,” Costner told GQ in May 2024. The Yellowstone team proposed schedules that would bite into Costner’s time allotted for shooting Horizon, which he couldn’t accept. Why did they bother offering timing they knew wouldn’t work? “I think there was a belief that I couldn’t get it mounted,” Costner added. “But I didn’t really care what anybody believed.”
He didn’t just imply issues on the creative side. “The scripts never came,” he said to GQ. “They still haven’t shot it as far as I know … And so then at one point they said to me that we don’t have an ending or anything.” He then offered to let John Dutton die and said he had a week of free time during which they could shoot that death. Originally, he said, he was intending to do three more seasons, but the conflicts made that impossible.
Drama? 👀
Costner apparently made a hefty list of demands, including a pay increase, a decrease in shooting time, and the right to approve or potentially veto all of the scripts for the season, Puck reported. Sheridan, who famously writes Yellowstone solo, was not super into that idea (shocker), and conversations spiraled from there, with Paramount walking away as well. This is not as shocking as it could be. Costner and Sheridan do not get along, per Puck. The actor had already negotiated short shooting windows for seasons five A and five B. Then he got COVID-19 and couldn’t work but reportedly counted his sick time toward his shooting window — resulting in the Yellowstone cast and crew needing to reassemble for shoots that were both costly to Paramount and annoying to some of his co-stars.
On the home front for Costner, news of his departure from Yellowstone after season five came a day after it broke that his wife of 18 years, Christine, had filed for divorce. “It is with great sadness that circumstances beyond his control have transpired which have resulted in Mr. Costner having to participate in a dissolution of marriage action,” Costner’s rep told ET.
During a child-support hearing on September 1, Costner testified, per People, that he had wanted to return for a sixth season of Yellowstone. However, he claimed negotiations hadn’t worked out because less money was offered and there were creative “issues.” It also looks as if he might sue the show — when asked if he had received payment for the second half of season five, Costner reportedly replied, “I will probably go to court over it.”
What does Sheridan have to say about this?
The king of Yellowstone is keeping it generally congenial. “My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered,” Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter in a June 21 interview. “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.” Still, he’s willing to acknowledge a bit of beef, even if it doesn’t come from their personal convos. “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 said. “He took a lot of this on the chin and I don’t know that anyone deserves it. [Horizon] 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.” There’s no way to gauge the tone here, but we like to imagine the last sentence was spoken in the style of Regina George.
Meanwhile, Paramount played their cards close to their chest. “Kevin has been a big part of Yellowstone’s success, they said in a statement to GQ. “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.”
How does Horizon fit in?
Couldn’t be more relevant! Puck reports that, from Costner’s perspective, the shooting of season five was supposed to be completely finished by 2022, but Sheridan couldn’t deliver the scripts on time (because he was preoccupied with his multitudinous other projects). Costner, meanwhile, wanted to focus on his own upcoming film series, Horizon, a Civil War–era drama he is directing, co-writing, producing, and starring in. The first two films in the series will be out this summer: Chapter One will be on June 28, and Chapter Two (of a planned four parts) is out August 16. The full trailer for the first Horizon film debuted on May 17, and it is mostly just grand vibes, without a real, clear plot quite yet. The film also stars Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, and Giovanni Ribisi.
Chapter one of Horizon premiered at Cannes on May 19, earning a reported ten-minute standing ovation. “I’m sorry you had to clap that long for me to understand that I should speak,” Costner said in response, according to Variety. The three-hour-long film did have some walkouts, though, Variety noted, “many attendees returned.” But then the film megaflopped at the box office, earning only $38.2 million against a reportedly $50 million budget. The fate of Horizon remains up in the air.
Are there more spinoffs incoming?
Sheridan can’t stop, won’t stop. Chris McCarthy, the president and CEO of Viacom, is bullish on his star writer, and the two have ten projects in the pipeline, according to a McCarthy interview with The Hollywood Reporter. That notably includes the Yellowstone “extension” rumored to star McConaughey that McCarthy says is going forward whether or not Costner stays in Yellowstone. Paramount confirmed in November 2023 that it has ordered two Yellowstone spinoffs, currently titled 1944 and 2024. We’ll have to wait and see if McConaughey turns up in either of them. All right, all right, all right, am I right?
Fine, tell me where I can watch Yellowstone?
Yellowstone’s new episodes air at 8 p.m. EST on the Paramount Network. You can stream it on Philo, or, if you can wait for the season to conclude, it’ll stream on Peacock. Get along, cowboy.
This post has been updated.
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