Kevin Costner Shares His Take On Yellowstone Exit Drama: 'They Walked Away'
The Paramount hit "Yellowstone" is bidding audiences farewell with the conclusion of Season 5, but the apparent catalyst for its end is keeping it in the headlines more so than the fact that it's nearly over. Kevin Costner — the arguable face of the neo-Western and the actor behind John Dutton — elected to leave the series behind before news of its cancellation came to light, with rumors swirling regarding the nature of his exit. For the most part, Costner has been quiet about his "Yellowstone" farewell and the drama behind it, but at long last, he has offered up some comments about the situation.
Costner and his wife, Christine Baumgartner, are currently in the midst of divorce proceedings that have taken the two to court. During a recent court appearance, the actor touched on his exit from Taylor Sheridan's series, sharing what drove him to step away. "We did negotiate. There were issues about creative. I tried to break the log jam. They walked away," he said, adding that he was offered a hefty $24 million for "Yellowstone" Season 5, Season 6, and Season 7, but since a deal wasn't struck, he left and the show came to an end (via Fox News).
Continuing, Costner revealed that there was a second major factor that led him to finish his "Yellowstone" tenure.
Scheduling drove Costner away just as much as creative disagreements
As it turns out, creative issues weren't the only motivating factor behind Kevin Costner's departure from "Yellowstone." He added during his court appearance that the filming schedule had become too much. "Somewhere along the line, they wanted to change things...They wanted to do 5A and 5B...A show I was only doing once a year I was now doing twice," he said of the breakdown of Season 5 that was explained to him. For someone with a schedule as full as his, keeping his other creative endeavors on track would've been near impossible.
Though Costner was committed to "Yellowstone," it wasn't the only project he had on his mind when he made his decision to leave. He has been working on a cinematic production called "Horizon: An American Saga," which he plans to write, direct, produce, and star in. That's a lot of responsibility on one person's shoulders, so, as he explained, if he were to handle the "Yellowstone" workload, he wouldn't be able to fully tend to his many duties on his cinematic passion project. With that, he made his choice, and the rest is history.
The last hurrah for "Yellowstone," the second half of Season 5, is slated to debut sometime in 2023.