Kevin Costner is sharing his side of the story. The 69-year-old Yellowstone star speaks in a new interview with Deadline about his time on the hit Paramount show and talk on-set tension between him and head writer and creator Taylor Sheridan.
It has been rumored that Costner's commitment to his Horizon films got in the way of the Yellowstone production schedule, with Costner prioritizing the three movies he's directing over the hit series, in which he plays rancher John Dutton.
Saying that narrative "wasn't truthful," Costner claimed he received conflicting information on the production schedule for Yellowstone, which impacted his schedule for Horizon.
"I don’t want to get down in the gutter with the Yellowstone thing but what I’m telling you is straight up. I have taken a beating from those f**king guys and I know a lot of times where it’s coming from," Costner said. "I just elected not to get into that. But if you know me well enough, I made Yellowstone the first priority, and to insinuate anything else would be wrong."
Costner added that he doesn't know "why they don't stick up for me." He claims that he gave the Yellowstone team 25 days for season 5, part B, nearly the whole month of March, but that "there was no script."
Taylor Sheridan and Kevin Costner attend Yellowstone premiere in June 2018.
Costner noted that he was willing to give the Yellowstone team an additional week to kill off his character or give John Dutton a satisfying ending, but claimed that then got spun into him only wanting to work for a week.
"Do you think that's who I am? I've never missed a day of work," Costner insisted. "I've never left before fulfilling my contractual obligations. A lot of times, I stay as much as I can."
Costner said he only intended to do one season of Yellowstone, but instead stayed much longer.
"They imploded. I had a contract to do five, six and seven. I was contracted to do that," he alleged. "There's nothing I could have done to get out of that, nor was I trying to just figure out how, when we started. When we finished, I wanted to do Horizon. It all happened because they shut down one whole season, didn’t tell anybody and I didn’t work for 14 months."
Despite all the drama, Costner describes himself as "very open" to returning to the show.
"I took a beating over these guys not speaking up for me and allowing crazy stories to come out," Costner said. "I'm not happy about that. But if the writing is there, I will be there too."
Luke Grimes and Kevin Costner as Kayce and John Dutton on Yellowstone.
The second half of Yellowstone's fifth season was set to begin filming this month. Costner previously told ET that he'd be open to a return as John Dutton.
"I'd like to be able to do it but we haven't been able to," Costner said. "...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."
Co-star Luke Grimes, who plays Costner's on-screen son, Kayce Dutton, recently told The Independent, "Whatever happened there is unfortunate if it's changed anything about how the show is going to unfold. I know, [Costner] got busy with his movies that were like passion projects [the newly announced Horizon: An American Saga for one]. At a certain point, you gotta do what you gotta do, man; you gotta do what you love."
Josh Lucas, who plays a younger version of Costner's John, told ET in March, "I texted [creator] Taylor Sheridan a couple months ago, and his response was, 'Absolutely, we're going to finish this with 10 episodes or so.' I know as much as you do, but I think we got 10 episodes to kind of wrap it up and I can't wait to go do it."
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