We may not have any new episodes of Yellowstone, but there’s plenty of off-screen drama to keep us entertained.
Of course by now everybody knows that the show will be coming to an end at the conclusion of season five, after contract negotiations with Kevin Costner broke down amid efforts to keep his John Dutton around for future seasons.
Reportedly, Costner was unhappy with the filming schedule, and only wanted one week to film the second half of season five due to his busy schedule, which includes working on his upcoming western movie Horizon. He was also reportedly refusing to return for the second half of the hit Paramount Network show until he was satisfied with how his character was written out, causing tension between Costner and director Taylor Sheridan.
And then things have been complicated by the messy divorce between Costner and his wife, Christine Baumgartner.
After reportedly being blindsided by the divorce, Costner hasn’t made it easy on his estranged wife. She first asked for almost $250 thousand dollars in child support per month, but a court hearing brought that total monthly price to around half of that.
And there were also disputes over whether his wife would have to leave the marital home, which resulted in a drawn-out battle before a judge ultimately ordered Baumgartner out of the home.
So yeah, things have been messy in Kevin Costner’s world lately.
But it doesn’t seem like it’s going to get any better any time soon.
During another hearing in his divorce case this past week, Costner again hinted at the fractures in his relationship with the Yellowstone production team – and even claimed that he would be taking them to court.
The focus of the hearing was Costner’s income, which Baumgartner alleges that Costner has either misrepresented or turned down opportunities in an attempt to keep his income intentionally low, resulting in less money owed to his ex-wife.
And when the subject of his Yellowstone income came up, Costner claimed that he had originally agreed to remain on the show through season seven, at a salary of $12 million per season.
But Costner says that when season five was split in two, it caused problems with his schedule – and that Paramount ultimately walked away from the negotiations over season six and seven after initially agreeing to pay him $24 million for those two seasons combined.
Costner then claimed that the dispute would likely result in a lawsuit against the Yellowstone producers:
“It’s a little disappointing that the #1 show on television is not producing. I’ll probably go to court over it. I’m disappointed in the production.”
The judge in the case ultimately ruled in Costner’s favor, cutting his child support payments to Baumgartner yet again, down to $63,209 per month for the couple’s three children, a significant reduction from the $129,755 she had originally been awarded, and far below the $248,000 per month that his estranged wife was requesting.
It’s still not known when filming will resume on the final season, with Hollywood writers currently on strike and bringing production to a halt.
But with all of this off-screen drama, there’s still plenty going on in the Yellowstone universe for fans to follow along with – and it doesn’t seem like it’s going to settle down any time soon.
