Kevin Costner Shares Why He Finally Confirmed His Departure From ‘Yellowstone’

If you’re still not over the news that Kevin Costner will not be returning to Yellowstone, the man behind John Dutton himself is sharing more as to why he opted out of the show’s final installment.

While speaking with Extra‘s Billy Bush in an interview published on Monday (June 24) — four days after he confirmed his exit via a social media video — he addressed his departure, per Entertainment Weekly

“Yeah, I just hadn’t heard anything about how it’d be done,” he shared. “It was just time to move on and as gracefully as you can with something that’s been very important to you.”

Highlighting that he dedicated “five years” to the Western series that he “enjoyed” and “helped sell,” he ultimately reiterated that “it’s time to move.”

He had also iterated this sentiment to The Hollywood Reporter, explaining that “it was a necessary decision to say, ‘Hey, OK, I don’t want to really talk about this anymore. It’s time to move on.'”

“I gave this thing five seasons,” he noted. “I was really happy to do it. And I don’t need drama. So, let’s just take that drama away, let’s take the guessing [away]. The fans have been way too good to me. And my obligation is to go on and continue to make things that mean something to them.”

Paramount Network revealed on June 20 that Season 5, Part 2 will hit the network on Sunday, Nov. 10, marking nearly two years since Part 1 first aired. In the mere hours following this announcement, Costner took to social media to break the news of his exit, citing his work on his four-part Western Horizon: An American Saga.

Despite the fair share of reported behind the scenes drama, this still might have come as a shock to some fans still vying for a future John Dutton appearance, as Costner told Savannah Guthrie on Today just last week, “I would love to go back under the right circumstances I think that all of us want.”

However, he had also shaded the show’s execs in a recent interview with People, claiming that they never “stepped up to defend what it was [he] actually did for them” amid all the buzz surrounding his departure.