Debate over Costner's return has raged on for the better part of a year.
Kevin Costner has issued a final, definitive update regarding his much-debated return to Yellowstone.
On Thursday night, Costner posted a video to his social media channels announcing, at long last, that he will not be returning to Taylor Sheridan’s blockbuster soap opera for season five or any future seasons. “I just realized I’m not going to be able to continue,” Costner stated in the clip. The actor explained that his duties on his four-part film series Horizon: An American Saga, the first part of which is in theaters next Friday, preclude his return to Yellowstone.
“I just 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 that’s required,” Costner began by saying. "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 five or into the future.”
Costner told fans that Yellowstone “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. I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop, and I’ll see you at the movies.”
An update for you guys. I’ll see you at the movies. pic.twitter.com/DpuC5cOP6F
— Kevin Costner & MW (@modernwest) June 21, 2024
Though it seemed unlikely, hope remained until earlier this week that Costner would return in some capacity for the second half of the fifth season, reportedly the show’s last batch of episodes. He played family patriarch John Dutton throughout the first four seasons and the top half of season five, but separated from the show after disagreements sprouted regarding Dutton’s final arc.
Much of the reporting alleged that Costner abandoned Yellowstone to work on Horizon, claims the actor fired back against in May.
“That’s not true,” the star said of those rumors. “That’s bulls--t. That’s a lie … They made the contract and they picked the days…They weren’t able to make those. Horizon was set in the middle, but Yellowstone was first position. I fit [Horizon] into the gaps. [Yellowstone] just kept moving their gaps … I left my movie to be on time for them for [season] 5B.”
On last week’s episode of CBS Sunday Mornings, Costner still seemed up for reprising his Yellowstone role. “If I like the story, where it was going, I would go back,” Costner revealed, before reiterating: “I did everything that I was contracted to do with Yellowstone.”
The final season of Yellowstone is set to premiere November 10 on Paramount+. A final episode count has not been released, nor has a plan been announced for how the show will write Costner off.
Part one of Horizon: An American Saga hits cinemas on June 28. Part Two is in theaters August 16. The final two installments have yet to be filmed.
