Kevin Costner in Yellowstone.Photo: Kevin Lynch for Paramount Network
Less than a month afterKevin Costner’schildren “stood up and cheered"when hewon a Golden Globefor portraying powerful Montana patriarch John Dutton onYellowstone, reports began to surface that the actor was readying to exit the series.
And though fans' clamor for the second half ofseason 5shows no signs of abating, recent months have made it increasingly clear thatYellowstone’s path forward likely won’t be a smooth one — and that many big-picture questions are looming over the franchise’s charter production.
Though Costner, 68, and Paramount have largely avoided making any grand pronouncements, there has been a slow trickle of information about what the future might hold forYellowstone, for its star and for itsgrowing family of prequels and sequels.
Here’s everything we know so far…
Why do fans think Kevin Costner is leavingYellowstone?
Richard Bord/Getty
Rumors of Costner’s departure fromYellowstonekicked up in February 2023.
Costner’s attorney Marty Singer issued a denial two weeks after the report, blasting the claim that his client was unwilling to work as “an absolute lie.”
Though the dust briefly settled, it kicked back up again at the start of April when Sheridan, Costner and several otherYellowstonestars were allnotably absentfrom a PaleyFest panel. With that, the conversation that all was not well behind the scenes began to swirl anew.
Where does Matthew McConaughey fit into theYellowstoneuniverse?
Gary Miller/Getty, Paramount Network / Courtesy Everett Collection
A month after Deadline’s initial February report that Paramount was courting McConaughey for an extension series, spinoff prospects for theDallas Buyers Clubactor — not to mention the possibility of a Costner-freeYellowstone— became slightly more concrete. ViacomCBS President Chris McCarthyconfirmedin an interview published on March 28 that McConaughey’s franchise would “move forward regardless of whether Costner returns to the original,” according toThe Hollywood Reporter.
While McCarthy couldn’t share any new details about the upcoming project, he did tellTHRthat the entireYellowstonefranchise “wouldn’t be what it is today without Kevin, and we hope that that stays for a long time to come.”
Plot and casting details currently remain unknown, and it’s unclear where McConaughey’s spinoff could cross over into, or branch off, fromYellowstone.
What has Paramount Network said about Kevin Costner’s rumored departure?
Cast members from “Yellowstone” attend a panel at the Paley Center.Brian To for the Paley Center
Most notably, Paramount Network president of development & production Keith Cox said in April that he remained hopeful for Costner’s future with the series.
“What I can say is our star, the face of our show and the executive producer, arevery confident he’s going to continuewith our show,” Cox said during a PaleyFest panel, prompting a round of applause. (This was at the same panel that Sheridan, Costner and several of hisYellowstonecostarsdid not attend, despite being confirmed in advance.)
Coupled with McCarthy’s statement toTHRin March that the franchise “wouldn’t be what it is today without Kevin,” it would seem there the show’s parent company and its star — who has also served asYellowstone’s executive producer since its debut in 2018 — remained in conversation, at least at that time, about the role Costner will play moving forward on screen or off.
Emerson Miller/Paramount Network/Courtesy Everett Collection
Though Cox remained optimistic about Costner’s return to the series during the PaleyFest panel, he steered clear of providing a clear update about when production on the second half of season 5 would resume. (Yellowstoneseason 5, part 1 premiered in November 2022 and aired itsmid-season finaleon Jan. 1, 2023.)
Paramount and a representative for Costner did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment on the production status of the show amid reported production delays.
Danno Nell/Paramount Network/Courtesy Everett Collection
As one of the stars who did take the stage at PaleyFest, theSweet Home Alabamastar shared he thinks Sheridan has “always planned on at some point, having Kevin die and having multiple characters die.”
“And so you know that that’s just … the evolution of what the ranch is,” he continued. “That’s why when you see the cemetery and you see the names of Elsa and you see the names of Jacob and you see these names, I think it’s of course going to evolve and change. And I think that’s what hopefully people will really like as it goes.”
Dawn Olivieri, who plays Sarah Atwood, also opened up to PEOPLE about how her experience on the show doesn’t mean the door is forever closed if Costner chooses to walk out at some point.
“I’ve already been killed once. I’m coming back to life. It happens to the best of us,” said the actress. “I don’t know what’s going to happen with him. I hope I get the chance to work with him. I do.”
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Yellowstoneseasons 1–4 are currently streaming exclusively on Peacock. Its1883prequel starringTim McGrawand Faith Hill, as well as theHelen Mirren- andHarrison Ford-led prequel1923can be streamed on Paramount+. McConaughey’s as-yet-unnamed spinoff and another extension series dubbed6666remain in the works.
source: people.com
