Kevin Costner has clarified his Yellowstone future (Picture: Emerson Miller/Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
Kevin Costner has confirmed he won’t be returning to Yellowstone for its final instalment – or any others.
The 69-year-old has starred as Montana rancher John Dutton III in Paramount’s hit western drama, but he won’t be part of the second half of the show’s fifth and final season.
The series, which was created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, will be back on screen in November, but Costner is now focused on other projects.
He’s currently working on Horizon: An American Saga, his new series of western films which he is directing and starring in, the first part of which premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
In a video shared on Instagram, he told his fans that ‘after this long year and a half of working on’ his new project, he had a tough decision to make.
‘Doing all the things that’s required [for Horizon], and thinking about Yellowstone, that beloved series that I love, that I know you love, I just realised that I’m not going to be able to continue season 5B or into the future,’ he said.
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‘It 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 and I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop and I’ll see you at the movies.’
The first series of Yellowstone launched in 2018 and it has picked up a large following over the years, with Costner earning a Golden Globe for best performance in a drama television series last year.
Costner has played John Dutton on the Paramount show (Picture: Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock)
It centres on Dutton’s ranch and the tensions and conflicts that arise with its neighbours, an Indian reservation, the Yellowstone National Park and an expanding town.
Fans have insisted the show ‘won’t be the same’ without him, with some people claiming they won’t be tuning in anymore.
‘I will not be watching then. I am totally heartbroken this sucks. I personally liked seeing you once a week. But maybe you can make time to find your true love and really live the second half of your life on bliss,’ Instagram user @mrs.lilbit33 replied to the video.
‘This was kind of utile let us know, but without you, there’s no Yellowstone I won’t be watching,’ @iamlauraleigh63 commented, while @menofmahyem27 added: ‘Well, this really really breaks my heart. There’s no Yellowstone without you, Sir. 💔💔’
Fans aren’t taking the news well at all (Picture: Emerson Miller/Paramount Network/REX/Shutterstock)
‘Really???? You were the heart 💜 of Yellowstone!!!!!!! Dang… You will be surely missed! I pray your “Horizon” Series is a success,’ wrote @laura_menefee, as @countrypickinz said: ‘Crazy to lose a main character mid season. Sad to hear this!’
Last month, Costner insisted that the decision to split the fifth season into two parts led to his departure, with delays due to the writers strikes in Hollywood.
‘There was a moment where that show for me stopped for 14 months,’ he told People. ‘That’s the fact. I could have done a lot of things in that time, but I wasn’t aware that that [hold-up] was going to happen.’
Costner is focusing on other projects (Picture: Getty)
He has claimed that the ‘scripts never came’, and suggested he even offered ideas for an ending if he could shoot his scenes in a week.
‘The scripts never came. And so then at one point they said to me that we don’t have an ending or anything,’ he told GQ. ‘I said, “Well, if you want to kill me, if you want to do something like that,” I said, “I have a week before I start. I’ll do what you want to do.”’
Paramount has refuted his account of the conversation, and he appears to be done with the show.
Yellowstone returns to Paramount on November 10.
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