‘Yellowstone’ Star Kevin Costner Says Production Delays Led To His Exit: “We Very Rarely Started When We Said We Would”

Whispers of Kevin Costner‘s exit from Yellowstone have been going on for more than a year. Now, the actor has revealed exactly what led to his shocking departure from Paramount Network’s hit Western drama.

In a new interview with GQ, Costner dished on just how much he loved Yellowstone, in which he famously played Dutton family patriarch John Dutton. The actor said he renegotiated his contract from a three-season deal to one that allowed him to film up to seven seasons.

However, production delays due to the dual Hollywood strikes and COVID along with scheduling conflicts made it difficult for Costner to remain on board for the second half of Season 5 — especially since he was set to direct, co-write and star in the new Western Horizon, which recently got a 10-minute standing ovation Cannes Film Festival.

“We very rarely started when we said we would and we didn’t finish when we said we would,” he said of filming Yellowstone. “And I was okay with that. I really was. I was okay with it, but it wasn’t a trend that could continue for me.”

With Costner booked and busy with Horizon, finding dates to manage both projects proved to be an arduous task.

According to Costner, he offered up multiple solutions that would have allowed him to film both Yellowstone and Horizon. But after prolonged negotiations, he was only left with one week to film some sort of farewell for his Yellowstone character.

“The scripts never came. And so then at one point they said to me that we don’t have an ending or anything,” he revealed. “I said, ‘Well, if you want to kill me, if you want to do something like that,’ I said, ‘I have a week before I start. I’ll do what you want to do.'”

At that point, media outlets began running amuck with the notion that Costner “only wanted to work one week” — leaving him unhappy with the way the show’s production companies handled the false narrative surrounding his exit.

“My big disappointment is I never heard Paramount or 101 [Studios] really come to my defense and say, ‘That’s not true. He was going to do three more seasons,'” he said. “I started off only giving three seasons, ended up doing five and got embroiled in a thing that I don’t feel one person over there ever told the story correctly, ever, about what I had done and what I’ve been willing to do.”

He added, “That’s [what] really fucking bothered me, that none of them would actually try to set the record straight.”

As for whether he’d ever come back to Yellowstone, Costner said he’d rather keep those “conditions” between himself and the show’s co-creator Taylor Sheridan. Still, he had nothing but praise for John Dutton.

“I love that character. I love that world. I am a person that is very script-oriented. And if the scripts aren’t there now, I need to know what I am,” he said. “I want to make sure that the character lines up with what’s important to me too. And that’s pretty simple. That’s just between, again, Taylor and myself. Can we ever get there? I don’t know.”

Paramount Network released a statement to GQ regarding Costner’s exit.

“Kevin has been a big part of Yellowstone’s success,” the company said. “While we had hoped that we would continue working with him, unfortunately, we could not find a window that worked for him, all the other talent, and our production needs in order to move forward together. We respect that Kevin has prioritized his new film series and we wish him the best.”

More than one year after the first part of Yellowstone Season 5 finished airing, Paramount Network announced today that the series “started production” and is “currently filming in Montana.”