Kevin Costner didn’t even know ‘Yellowstone’ was coming out this week, disagrees with his character’s ending

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Kevin Costner has said he didn’t even know Yellowstone was coming out this week and added that he disagreed with his character’s ending in the show.

*major spoilers for Yellowstone ahead*

Costner played the lead character, ranch owner John Dutton, since the first season of the show in 2018, but announced last year that he’d be leaving the series amid speculation that he’d fallen out with creator Taylor Sheridan.

Speaking in a new interview with Sirum XM’s The Michael Smercornish Program yesterday (November 11), Costner admitted he hadn’t seen the new season of the show.

“I’m going to be perfectly honest. I didn’t know it was actually airing last night,” he told the show. He added: “That’s a swear to God moment. I swear to God. I mean, I’ve been seeing ads with my face all over the place and I’m thinking, ‘Gee, I’m not in that one.’ I’m not in this season.”

Costner departed the show after part one of season five which premiered in November 2022. In the latest episode of the show, Costner’s character seemingly initially dies by suicide until it is later revealed that there was another person behind the death.

Speaking about this, he said: “I didn’t see it. I heard it’s a suicide, so that doesn’t make me want to rush to go see it.” The host of the show said to Costner that his character in the show “never struck me as a suicide kind of guy,” to which he replied: “Well, they’re pretty smart people. Maybe it’s a red herring. Who knows? They’re very good. And they’ll figure that out.”

You can watch part of the interview here:

Elsewhere in the interview, Costner reiterated that he did not leave Yellowstone insisting that the show could not work around his work on his Horizon saga.

He explained: “There was contractual things that would allow for both things to be done, but because both things were contractual, you had to make room for the other thing. There was room, but it was difficult for them to keep their schedule. It seemed to be, it was just too difficult for them to do it…I didn’t leave. I didn’t quit.”

Costner continued: “I had 300 people waiting for me, I couldn’t help them anymore. I just simply couldn’t help them. But I didn’t quit the show…everybody has to live up to what they say they’re going to do. And it doesn’t matter what business you’re in.”

Earlier this week, Yellowstone director Christina Voros described Costner as “integral” to the show.

The Hollywood Reporter asked Voros about Costner’s presence as Dutton in the midseason finale, which aired on New Year’s Day 2023. She replied: “His presence is integral. I think to say any more than that would potentially compromise all the work that went into redacting the scripts! 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.”

It was previously announced that season five would be the final season of the drama, but rumours of plans for a sixth season have recently arisen – and there has also been talk of a spin-off too. Voros was asked if the second half of Yellowstone felt like the end when they were making it, and replied: “I think the degree of secrecy that went into it, the vibe was definitely that we were protecting a conclusion. As far as what the future holds? I don’t know. I honestly don’t know.”

In terms of whether the series could end after season five or carry on, she added, “When you create iconic characters like this, everyone has their own story that could continue. That’s true of most shows; most good shows.

“And that’s why in the last 10 years you see so many spinoffs, because there’s a character who stands out and you say, ‘Well, that character isn’t there anymore, but boy it would be interesting to see what this character does next.’ I think when you build characters that are rich, multi-faceted and intriguing with a life force, if you’ve done your job correctly, each of those characters could sustain their own narratives.”