Kevin Costner Says He “Would Love” To Return To ‘Yellowstone’ After Rumored Drama Behind The Scenes

Good news, Yellowstone fans. Kevin Costner isn’t closing the door on John Dutton just yet.

The Yellowstone star addressed his exit from the series during a recent appearance on The Today Show, where he revealed he would be interested in reprising his role in the hit Paramount+ drama as long as it’s “under the right circumstances.”

“I’ve supported that thing and I’ve loved it,” he told Savannah Guthrie on Today. “It’s been really important to me. I would love to go back under the right circumstances I think that all of us want. For me, it really needs to be the right circumstances.”

He continued, “There’s a chance, there’s always a chance. I love the thing. You’ve got to be really clear about that.”

Costner left the series after production on Season 5, Part 1 wrapped amid rumors that he and series creator Taylor Sheridan were feuding behind the scenes. It was later revealed that he left after production began experiencing major delays because the scripts for Season 5, Part 2 were not ready, which made it difficult for Costner to remain available considering he was also writing, directing, and starring in his own Western passion project, Horizon: An American Saga.

“Number one, I did it for five years, OK, and I want to work more than once a year,” he told Guthrie on Today. “We lost an entire year at one point and I thought, ‘Well that can’t ever happen again.’ It was well over a year. And I said, ‘I just have to be in position to make the things.’ There’s a chance to do both of them, but material has to be ready at certain times, and we weren’t able to do that.”

Costner has been rather candid about his exit from the show and what it would take to get him back on screen. He reportedly will not be returning unless he approves of how his character’s story will end with the conclusion of Season 5.

“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 recently told GQ. “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 [Sheridan] and myself. Can we ever get there? I don’t know.”

With news of Costner’s exit, Paramount announced that Season 5 will mark the end of the hit series.

The good news is that the show is slated to return in November now that production on Season 5, Part 2 recently resumed in Montana. The show also spawned two spinoffs, which are currently in development.

But it remains to be seen if Yellowstone fans will ever get to see John Dutton again.

The first part of Costner’s passion project, Horizon: An American Saga Part 1, premieres in theaters June 28.