Yellowstone has become a huge hit for Paramount Network, turning some relatively unknown cast members into veritable stars of the small screen. Of course, Academy Award-winner Kevin Costner as leading man added a sense of legitimacy to the show before it even premiered. Unfortunately, reports of chaos behind the scenes have been circulating in recent months, raising questions about whether the show will end after the second half of Season 5… with or without Costner. With new rumors of “friction” and only vague comments from cast members, here’s the latest of what’s been said about the hit drama.
Rumors of chaos at Yellowstone first began to spread online back in early February 2023, with Kevin Costner reportedly wanting to significantly reduce the amount of time that he’d be needed for filming as John Dutton. At the time, a rep for Paramount Network said that Kevin Costner is “a big part of Yellowstone and we hope that’s the case for a long time to come.” According to a source close to production now cited by The New York Post, however, some tension is present due to a dispute between creator Taylor Sheridan and Costner. The source stated:
It’s the same as with any showrunner and big star — there’s respect, but there’s friction.
The source went on to tell the outlet that production hopes any issues will be worked out and that Kevin Costner would return for the second half of the season “if everyone works together,” but it still “looks like Yellowstone will end” after Season 5. The New York Post goes on to cite a Hollywood source that reportedly said “there’s definitely some ego to all of this” due to Taylor Sheridan spending “years not being truly appreciated in Hollywood” and is now “the top of the heap.”
The same Hollywood source claimed that Kevin Costner was actually ready to return to work on Yellowstone in 2022 and early 2023, but scripts were not available and Sheridan was said to be “overburdened.” While no official statement has been made on that front, Sheridan has a long list of projects in the works for Paramount Network and Paramount+ subscribers.
According to the Hollywood source, Paramount actually doesn’t want to keep Yellowstone going indefinitely due to Peacock currently having the rights to stream the show until four years after whenever the series finale airs. The source states:
Paramount doesn’t want ‘Yellowstone’ on the air for more than another year [and competing with their shows]. They’d prefer to have a new [Sheridan] show with Paramount+.
At the time of writing, even inside sources haven’t definitively claimed that the end is truly nigh for Yellowstone, and/or a version of Yellowstone is coming without Kevin Costner. It is worth noting that the rumors of a spinoff starring Matthew McConaughey that were previously reported turned out to be true, as his spinoff was confirmed in early April. The news was somewhat overshadowed after Coster, Taylor Sheridan, and the other biggest names of Yellowstone were no-shows at the PaleyFest panel, to the dismay of fans.
The future is uncertain at this point, although it seems unlikely that the second half of Season 5 will be ready to premiere this summer, as originally announced. The midseason finale (which dropped several bombshells on the characters) aired back in December 2022. Hopefully confirmation about the future (and how much of it will involve Kevin Costner) will officially come before the 2023 TV premiere schedule gets much further without the Duttons.