Kevin Costner Finally Weighs In On His ‘Yellowstone’ Role And Potential Return

Kevin Costner has opened up about his intention to return to the “Yellowstone” set to finish his role as the show enters its final episodes.

Costner played John Dutton in the series but left abruptly after becoming embroiled in a three-way feud involving his camp, show producer Taylor Sheridan, and Paramount Network.

At the time, the actor claimed that the show owed him $12 million for the not-yet-filmed second half after Paramount “walked away” from negotiations.

During his Tuesday attendance at CinemaCon to promote his upcoming film “Horizon: An American Saga,” Costner weighed in on the prospect of returning to the hit Paramount Network drama following his exit.

It comes after he quit filming following the release of the first half of season five as tensions rose between him and co-creator Taylor Sheridan, forcing the show to go on a hiatus.

The “Draft Day” actor has now disclosed that he’d “love” to reprise his role as John Dutton for the show’s second half and final season, which is expected to drop in November.

“I’d like to be able to do it, but we haven’t been able to,” Costner said, per Entertainment Tonight. “…I thought I was going to make seven [seasons] but right now we’re at five. So how it works out — I hope it does — but they’ve got a lot of different shows going on. Maybe it will. Maybe this will circle back to me. If it does and I feel really comfortable with [it], I’d love to do it.”

The 69-year-old actor went further to share how he’d love for his character on the show to wrap up.

“[Dutton] needs to be proactive in what happens, and I’ve kind of had my own fantasy how [the character’s final arc] might be,” Costner said.

He added, “But that’s Taylor’s thing. I said as much to him a while back. I had thoughts [about] how it could happen, but we just have to see.”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the bane of the matter seems to be Costner’s liking for how his character ends.

He allegedly wanted to approve of Dutton’s fate on the show, but Sheridan, like most showrunners, does not let actors choose their storylines.

During a September 2023 hearing for his divorce from estranged wife Christine Baumgartner, Costner’s finances from the show became the bone of contention, having grown to become the most-watched drama on television at the time.

According to People Magazine, he testified that a “long, hard-fought negotiation” about splitting season 5 into two parts was behind his decision to leave the show.

Costner claimed he needed to focus on his soon-to-be-released epic, “Horizon: An American Saga,” which clashed with filming “Yellowstone” twice a year, as he had already “changed” his schedule to shoot the first part of season 5.

The Academy Award winner went on to note that there were “no scripts written” for the second part of season 5 and “they still hadn’t finished” the first part of the season at the time. They tried “pay or play,” but it did not work, and he was set to receive $12 million for each part of season 5.

Costner stated that he wanted to return for the sixth season of the Western series, but “I could not help them anymore. We tried to negotiate, they offered me less money than previous seasons, there were issues with the creative…”

“It’s a little disappointing that [it’s] the #1 show on TV, I’m not participating,” he said at the time and threatened to sue when asked if he would receive a payout from the second part of the show’s current season.

“I will probably go to court over it,” he added at the time.

At the time, speculations were rife about the reason Costner’s marriage to Baumgartner hit the rocks, with some suggesting his time away from home filming “Yellowstone” and working on his new movie were to blame for their divorce.

As the estranged couple processed their divorce in court, Baumgartner claimed that she” did not pressure” him to leave the show before their split.

In court documents, she said that the actor’s “public attacks on me are harmful for our family” and that she thinks “they are meant to pressure me to move out without a temporary child support agreement in place.”

“I have avoided being public about the reasons for our divorce. I have done this to protect our family’s privacy. I did not pressure Kevin to leave the Yellowstone show,” she added.

Baumgartner filed to end their 18-year marriage in May last year, with the actor’s representative telling People that “circumstances beyond his control have transpired” between them.

The pair have since settled their divorce, with Baumgartner receiving $63,000 for child support.