Why did kevin costner leave yellowstone season 5?
Costner originally declined to participate in Yellowstone season five, part two over reported scheduling conflicts with Horizon. “We very rarely started when we said we would and we didn’t finish when we said we would,” he told GQ in May 2024.
Is Kevin Costner in season 5 part two?
Costner has said he will not appear on this season of Yellowstone. “I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning,” he posted on Instagram earlier this year, when Paramount Network announced the return date for the program.
When Yellowstone returns to television screens on Nov. 12, fans will notice the absence of Kevin Costner, the lead star of Taylor Sheridan’s popular neo-Western drama. As a central figure in the series, viewers be curious about what happened to Costner and why he’s not in the show’s final episodes.
Since Yellowstone’s debut in 2018, Kevin Costner has portrayed John Dutton III, the patriarch of the Dutton family and owner of one of the largest cattle ranches in the U.S. The show follows Dutton and his family as they defend their land against a variety of threats, including land developers, a nearby Indian reservation, political rivals, and other adversaries.
Over the show’s five seasons on the Paramount Network, fans have seen Costner’s character become the Governor of Montana, experience serious health issues, navigate difficult family dynamics (especially with Beth and Jamie), and wage war against anyone threatening his ranch and his cowboys. Naturally, Costner and his character’s absence will be deeply felt by the cast.
Luke Grimes, who plays Costner’s on-screen son Kayce Dutton, recently opened up to People about what it was like not having Costner back on set to finish the series.
“Him not coming back felt like, ‘Okay, we’re going to have to land this plane now for real,’” Grimes said. “I think the patriarch leaving was always going to be part of the story. That’s always where it was headed is like, what do these kids do? What does this family do when their rock is gone?”
Although Grimes acknowledges the “drama” that led to Yellowstone’s return to filming, the actor admitted that he felt as though “it was always going to go that way.” He continued, “Whatever the circumstances may be, [it] definitely felt like, ‘Okay, we’re coming in for a landing,'” he said of Costner’s exit. “It definitely felt different.”
No, Kevin Costner will not appear in Yellowstone Season 5, Part 2. In June 2024, Costner confirmed that he would not participate in the second half of Season 5, which also serves as the series’ final episodes. He shared the news in an informal video posted to his Instagram on June 20, 2024.
“I want to reach out and let you know that after this long year and a half of working on Horizon and doing all the things that’s required, and thinking about Yellowstone, that beloved series that I love, that I know you love, I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue Season 5B or into the future,” he said.
The Horizon director and star continued, “It was something that really changed me. I loved it. And I know you loved it. And I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning and I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop and I’ll see you at the movies.”
Although Costner was not involved with filming, Christina Voros, the director of the first six episodes, told The Hollywood Reporter that John Dutton remains central to the family in the remaining episodes.
“To say any more than that would potentially compromise all the work that went into redacting the scripts,” she explained. “But I think the reason people are wondering, ‘Is he, isn’t he? Where is he, where is he not?’ is because he is the patriarch, and his presence is an essential component to the story. John Dutton is still central.”