Yellowstone season 5 episode 9: Kevin Costner gets candid

Over the past few months, we’ve started to hear Kevin Costner get increasingly open about his apparent exit from Yellowstone. Now, we have what are by far his most public comments on the matter so far.

It is hard to really put into specifics everything that happened over the past several months, but the easiest way to put it is as follows: There have been questions for quite some time over whether the actor would return as John Dutton due to scheduling and/or plenty of other factors. He has been working extensively on Horizon: An American Saga, which he is currently in the process of promoting. He still says that he is open to a return, despite all of the public drama of the past year and a half.

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Speaking on the matter further to Deadline, Costner refutes claims that he tried to limit his schedule for the show, and instead lists an array of issues that included changes to episode counts and an original plan for him to be around until season 7:

I’m very open to coming back. If they’ve got so many other things going on, maybe this circles back and it’s a really cool two seasons. Or end it, if the writing’s there and I’m happy with it. I’m open to that. But I took a beating over these guys not speaking up for me and allowing crazy stories to come out.

I’m not happy about that. But if the writing is there, I will be there too. They had first position. I didn’t do Horizon because I was tired of doing Yellowstone. That’s a bull—t story. I didn’t do Horizon to compete with Yellowstone. This is something I’ve had a long time. Taylor [Sheridan] read that script three years earlier when he was contemplating other writers [for Yellowstone]. I said, well, you can look at what John [Baird] and I did, not that I think I’m qualified. I think you write Yellowstone beautifully. So, he read that and knew what the thing was about. It’s just that simple: Paramount and 101 Studios mismanaged this. They had me for five, six, and seven. I agreed to do it. And then they steadily began changing their format. And what about the year that went missing? That 14 months?

Personally, we do think that it would be nice of Costner did have a chance to return to the show, mostly because it feels like the best-case scenario for everyone involved. It would help him to better promote his movies, and also help the show to have their most-popular character. Whether or not that happens, of course, remains a mystery and it is really up to Taylor Sheridan.

Related – Be sure to get some more information now on a proposed Yellowstone spin-off

Do you think there is any chance that we see Kevin Costner again on Yellowstone?

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