Kevin Costner revealed the truth behind his exit from the hit drama Yellowstone and his rumored feud with the series creator, Taylor Sheridan.
Back in May 2023, it was revealed that Costner wouldn't be returning as John Dutton after Season 5. It was later confirmed the series would end with that season, causing rumors to swirl that his decision to leave seriously impacted the show.
In an interview published on Monday, May 13, the Waterworld actor admitted he hasn't "felt good" about the media coverage of the series over the past year.
"The way they’ve talked about it. It wasn’t truthful," he clarified. "So now I’m talking about a little bit about what the real truth of it was."
Costner explained he initially had a contract for seasons five, six and seven of Yellowstone, but after a few months of negotiations, another contract was made that stated instead of seven seasons, there would be a Season 5A and Season 5B with only a possibility of coming back for Season 6.
"They weren’t able to make those. Horizon was set in the middle, but Yellowstone was first position. I fit [Horizon] into the gaps," he said of his upcoming flick. "They just kept moving their gaps."
"I don’t want to get down in the gutter with the Yellowstone thing but what I’m telling you is straight up," he continued. "I have taken a beating from those f------ guys and I know a lot of times where it’s coming from. I just elected not to get into that."
"If you know me well enough, I made Yellowstone the first priority, and to insinuate anything else would be wrong," he added. "I did not initiate any of those things. They did. They were doing a tap dance and this poor guy was also having to write so much. And I don’t know why they didn’t stick up for me."
Costner noted he could have said "no comment" to the question, but wanted to answer it after months of rumors. The 68-year-old also explained he'd been able to ignore the "slings and arrows" thrown at him over the past two years because he's been "busy working."
"I won’t say my life is fair game or that any questions are fair game, but this is a realistic question. I will address it," he told the outlet. "They should have known that there was going to be an opportunity for me to say something."
This comes after OK! reported Coster was "exhausting himself" while filming Season 4 of the popular Western.
"Kevin is one of the hardest working guys in Hollywood, and he’s been crazy busy trying to catch up after the long delays due to lockdown," an insider spilled at the time. "He’s keeping tabs on the editing and overseeing other post-production work ... Kevin’s a workhorse and deserves a lot of the credit for Yellowstone’s success, but he’s running himself ragged!"
Costner spoke with Deadline about the truth behind the Yellowstone issues.