Kevin Costner is reportedly hoping to return to Yellowstone for the show’s final episodes.
Costner, 69, has been telling people he’s planning to return for at least a cameo in the second half of season 5 and possibly more, according to Puck News.
The site, however, also reports that there are currently no official discussions for Costner to return to the Paramount series after Yellowstone cocreator and writer Taylor Sheridan failed to write him into the final episodes.
“Even if Costner significantly lowers his financial and time commitment demands, Sheridan may not want to bother reopening his finished scripts to accommodate a send-off for John Dutton,” Puck News reported on March 24. “But the Yellowstone fans would certainly love it, which Costner knows and hopes to leverage, as he always does.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Paramount for comment.
Outside of Yellowstone, Costner has been focused on his upcoming film Horizon: A Western Saga. The story spans 15 years in the settlement of America’s Western frontier and focuses on settlers and Indigenous groups that first occupied the land.
There has been endless back and forth about the fate of Yellowstone in the past year. According to Sheridan, 53, Horizon is the reason Costner wanted out of his role as John Dutton on Yellowstone.
“He and the network were arguing about when he could be done with Yellowstone,” Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2023. “I said, ‘We can certainly work a schedule toward [his preferred exit date],’ which we did. His movie seems to be a great priority to him and he wants to shift focus. I sure hope [the movie is] worth it — and that it’s a good one.”
Sheridan also slammed any rumors that he had a rift with Costner before his exit from the project.
“My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered,” Sheridan told THR of the alleged drama. “His creation of John Dutton is symbolic and powerful … and I’ve never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn’t work out on the phone.”
While Sheridan said he was “disappointed” in Costner’s exit, he went on to hint that his character, John Dutton, may not have survived through the end of Yellowstone’s run.
He also promised that John’s ultimate fate wouldn’t reflect his off camera relationship with Costner.
“I don’t do f–k-you car crashes,” Sheridan explained. “Whether [Dutton’s fate] inflates [Costner’s] ego or insults is collateral damage that I don’t factor in with regard to storytelling.”
Other sources have insisted to Us that there was tension between the two men. “Yellowstone was a huge success, but Kevin hated not having enough input, and that’s what caused the friction with Taylor,” one source said last year. “He wants to challenge himself.”
The final episodes of Yellowstone are expected to drop on the Paramount Network in November 2024.
