Is the will he-won’t he with Kevin Costner and Yellowstone officially over?
Fans of the hit western show airing on Paramount have waited a long time just for the show to return after a long hiatus, and now it seems that the show’s final episodes will go on without John Dutton.
It’s hard to imagine Yellowstone, which started airing in 2018, without its leading man, but reports are suggesting that Costner has filmed his last scene as John Dutton, and will not return for the second half of Season 5, which is set to bring the story to an end.
Matt Belloni, a Hollywood Insider, revealed on a recent episode of his podcast (The Town) that as far as he is aware, and from what he has heard, Kevin Costner will not be a part of the final episodes of Yellowstone.
“Yellowstone will probably go back into production at the beginning of the year. So it could be out this spring or summer. Scripts are already written, I’m told, or are being written. And the question is whether Costner is in those final episodes of this season of Yellowstone.
And my understanding is that, as of now, he is not going to be in those episodes.”
Having Costner written out of the overarching story was already going to be hard enough, but not having him there at all to conclude the saga of John Dutton will certainly prove to be a tall task, and has the chance to sour some fans of the hit TV show.
However, if this report does turn out to be true, it shouldn’t really surprise anyone. There have been many doubts in the last years about Costner’s availability and willingness to finish out Yellowstone, and it seems as though those issues were ultimately too much to overcome.
Reports of behind-the-scenes drama and issues between Costner and show runner and director Taylor Sheridan have been widespread in recent months, and it appears that creative differences and salary disputes, as well as Costner’s passion project (Horizon: An American Saga) were the final nails in the coffin.
If Costner doesn’t return, Sheridan now has to somehow bring the main Yellowstone story to a close without its main character, which should bring its fair share of issues on its own. For fans of the Yellowstone universe, you might want to go ahead and pivot to some of the other spin-off shows…
That being said, it’s actually been confirmed that the second half of Season 5 will not air until fall of 2024, and filming is not set to begin until next spring… so there is always a chance that Sheridan and Costner work something out.
A slim one, but a chance…
