Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan finally addresses explosive Kevin Costner exit that blew up hit show

Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan has addressed his rumored feud with Kevin Costner – two years after the actor’s high-profile exit rocked the world of television.

Costner, 71, who played John Dutton was killed off in a faked suicide during the show’s fifth season – amid rumors Sheridan, 56, had developed a ‘God complex’ and clashed with the Oscar winner over the direction of his character.

Appearing on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Sheridan made rare remarks about Costner’s exit, claiming he was ‘only supposed to be in the first three seasons’ to begin with. 

Sheridan said, ‘That was in his contract. In my mind, that’s when his youngest son takes over [on the show]… But the network was so scared of not having Kevin be a part of it, even though Kevin was ready. 

‘He was ready to go. He had other things he wanted to do but he stayed on for another two seasons.

‘And that was just because the show was such a behemoth. It was such a huge hit. The notion of giving up a hit before it had run out of juice to squeeze is very foreign to a network. 

‘There was even pressure from some of the cable companies wanting to put it in their deals, that they were going to get an X number of seasons of Yellowstone to re-up what this cable company is. That’s the power of a really big hit show.

He added that Costner ‘hit a point where’ he decided it was time to move on.

‘He’s like, “I gotta go do my own thing”‘, Sheridan said.

‘But we originally conceived it together that it was three seasons and then the baton is handed. … Because we had to tread water for a bit there. I think it was pretty evident.’

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Kevin Costner for comment and has yet to hear back. 

In the show, Costner’s character Dutton was unexpectedly killed in a murder-for-hire plot during the premiere of Yellowstone’s season five part two.

He was killed in the first few minutes of the premiere, with the show wasting no time revealing he had passed by suicide by gunshot – after Costner acrimoniously exited the show over scheduling conflicts with his Western movie franchise Horizon. 

In 2024 his former co-star Luke Grimes, who played Costner’s onscreen son Kayce Dutton, waxed lyrical about the changes the actor’s departure made to the filming process.

‘Hopefully everyone can see that it was time. To be really honest, there was a part of Kevin being gone that meant some of the conflict was gone.’

He continued: ‘Obviously, it didn’t make it super fun to be around… Not pointing any fingers, but it was actually the easiest season we’ve filmed.’

He was later asked by Men’s Health if they are still in contact, to which he said: ‘No, I haven’t talked to him since. It’s not a case of any hard feelings or anything; its just, he’s Kevin Costner,’ he said with a laugh.

‘He’s a big deal. I do have his phone number – I just don’t feel like it’s my place to reach out. He can reach out to me if he wants,’ Grimes continued.

Grimes added to Men’s Health that ‘none of us saw it coming the way it did, and obviously there was news about possible blowups behind the scenes or whatever. But just like in life, man, these things happen, they happen fast, and they’re not predictable.’

Adding: ‘I lost my father a few years ago. It happened fast, and it was not the way that you would think that that would happen. In life, these things happen and then people have to start making decisions.’

‘And in our little Yellowstone world, that helped ramp the show up into a boil.’

In 2024 Paramount claimed Costner refused to shoot more episodes, instead promoting his film franchise, Horizon, while Costner asserted at the time Paramount sought contract amendments due to Sheridan’s delayed scriptwriting.

‘There was no script,’ Costner told Deadline. ‘And then things imploded. You’ve been reading one version [of the show’s drama] for a year and a half.’

He added: ‘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. But if you know me well enough, I made Yellowstone the first priority, and to insinuate anything else would be wrong.’

Costner, also defended Sheridan, claiming, ‘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.

However, rumors claimed he only wanted to work for one week to film the rest of the episodes. Costner contends that Paramount deceived him.

‘I haven’t felt good about it the last year, what with the way they’ve talked about it,’ he told Deadline. ‘It wasn’t truthful.’

‘So now I’m talking a little bit about what the real truth of it was. I made a contract for seasons five, six and seven. In February, after a two- or three-month negotiation, they made another contract. They wanted to redo that one, and instead of seasons six and seven, it was 5A and 5B, and maybe we’ll do six. They weren’t able to make those.’

He went onto to say he was willing to film Horizon around the Yellowstone schedule but the timeline kept changing. 

News first started to spread about Costner potentially leaving the show in 2023, amid rumors of a dispute between him and Sheridan.

Costner’s attorney Marty Singer denied rumors that Costner refused to film on the show for more than just one week in Season 5 Part 2.

‘The idea that Kevin was only willing to work one week on the second half of Season 5 of Yellowstone is an absolute lie,’ Singer said last summer.

‘It’s ridiculous –  and anyone suggesting it shouldn’t be believed for one second,’ he added.