Well… the Yellowstone rumors were true.
The drama of Taylor Sheridan’s main Yellowstone show might have ended back in 2024, but there’s still some drama to go around in 2025 thanks to the story The Hollywood Reporter first broke. In case you missed it, their report painted Kevin Costner – who played the incomparable John Dutton – in a bad light and said that he and a co-star got into a bit of a stand off on set.
As the story goes, Yellowstone really took off in popularity after its first two seasons. Suddenly, all of the lesser known actors and actresses felt up-to-par with the Oscar-winning Costner, and that created some tension:
“Paramount executives were desperate to have Sheridan’s content for Paramount+, their new streaming app. As the seasons wore on, Costner became an increasingly polarizing figure, and certain cast members were growing fed up with what several sources described as Costner’s ‘diva-like’ imperiousness.”
The set was evidently tense from Season 2 on, and came to a head when Kevin Costner and Wes Bentley (who played Jamie Dutton) nearly fought on set. THR says the cast was filming an emotional scene and Costner pushed Bentley to go off-script.
The actor behind Jamie Dutton refused, as he wanted to honor Taylor Sheridan’s vision for the scene. When Bentley didn’t play along, the two apparently came close to
“Kevin didn’t like that, and he lunged at him. No fists were thrown, but they were in each other’s faces, pushing and shoving and just getting hot until they had to be separated.”
Pretty wild story, eh?
And it’s a story that’s now been confirmed by the person that came eye-to-eye with Costner’s on-set rage. Wes Bentley, or at least his representation, has come out and said that what The Hollywood Reporter said about the incident was true. Here’s what was said about the tense altercation that Costner and Bentley entered into from the side of Wes Bentley:
“The two actors did have a work-related argument during an emotional and physically tough scene, and it was discussed and resolved.”
So no additional details, but definitely a confirmation from Wes Bentley.
Another source that spoke to US Weekly said that the incident was a little surprising considering Bentley was widely regarded as one of the friendliest actors on the set of Yellowstone:
“Wes Bentley was arguably the most friendly and laid back (cast member). By all accounts, he was great to work with and kind to people on set. I think he was happy to be there, for the most part.”
Obviously, most of the blame for what I’m calling the “almost fight” has been placed on the shoulders of Kevin Costner. Wes Bentley has been seen as more of the person that Costner brought the altercation to, so there’s nothing bad that’s really sticking to the 47-year-old actor.
As for Costner, there are some reports saying that he’s having trouble getting future projects financed because of the altercation with Bentley. The 70-year-old actor apparently wanted to do a deep-sea treasure hunting show, but no one will give him the money to do it (and Costner doesn’t have the money either because he sank it into Horizon: An American Saga).
The only for sure thing that the star has coming up is a role in an upcoming dramedy film titled Honeymoon with Harry. The two-time Oscar winner will star alongside Jake Gyllenhaal, and the story focuses on a man (played by Gyllenhaal) who loses his fiancée days before their wedding and decides to still go on the planned honeymoon with his would-have-been father-in-law (played by Costner).
When I watch that when it comes out (if I get around to it), all I’ll be able to think about when I see Kevin Costner is, “He’d rather be searching for buried treasure.”
