Kevin Costner Will Not Return to ‘Yellowstone’ Until He Approves of The Way John Dutton Will Be Written Off: Report

Rumors surrounding Kevin Costner‘s involvement in the final season of Paramount Network’s flagship series, Yellowstone, continue to swirl this week. On Friday, Paramount confirmed that the second half of the show’s fifth season would air on the network this November, and that Costner had not yet committed to appear. Today, Puck News reported that Costner was not given any advance warning that Paramount chief Chris McCarthy would be making the announcement confirming the end date of the show.

It’s also been reported that that his return to the series is contingent on certain demands being met, and negotiations for them remain ongoing.

Costner’s biggest concern regarding his final episodes on the show are the way that his character, John Dutton, will be written off the show, per Puck.

Today’s report states that Costner “won’t commit to returning until he finds out and is comfortable with how his John Dutton character is written out of the franchise.”

In addition to script approval, this report states that Costner had previously only wanted to commit to a total of one to three weeks of shooting, and he and his lawyers have yet to strike a deal with Paramount or show creator Taylor Sheridan with regard to his scheduling request.

Yellowstone‘s production schedule also remains at the mercy of the ongoing WGA Writers’ Strike, which could further delay both Yellowstone and the still-untitled Matthew McConaughey-led Yellowstone spinoff.

All I know is that the only thing in Hollywood with more delays is Cary Dubek’s direct-to-VOD film Night Nurse. But at least we could blame that on the pandemic.