Who knows what’s in store for “Yellowstone” after this story breaks? IndieWire (via The Independent) reports that series star Kevin Costner denies that he wanted to exit Taylor Sheridan‘s hit Paramount series. Instead, alleges the actor, he “did negotiate” to return for three more seasons of the show, but left due to scheduling conflicts. Those conflicts eventually led to Sheridan and Paramount announcing the fifth season will be the last one of the original series.
Earlier this year, it sounded like Costner wanted a reduced shooting scheudule on the show’s fifth season so he could start production on his long-gestating Western epic “Horizon: An American West.” But now it appears the situation between Costner and Sheridan has a little more going on than that. To The Independent, the actor called his relationship with the series “copmlicated,” stemming from issues with the “creative” team (ie: Sheridan). “There were issues about creative. I tried to break the logjam,” Costner said. “They walked away.”
What’s more, Costner told the paper that he will “probably go to court” over the failed negotiations. That’s due to the money the tensions between him and Sheridan leaves on the table for the actor. The actor told The Independent that Paramount and Sheridan offered him $24 million for seasons six and seven those seasons were greenlit. Now, with Part 2 of Season 5 on hold due to the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, one wonders if and when new episodes of “Yellowstone” will ever appear on TV again.
Of course, “Yellowstone” is too popular a show, with too many side series attached to it, for Paramount to shutter it before it ends. But rumors swirled about the production of Season 5 of the series before the stirkes began, with some claiming that Costner only wanted a week of shooting for his character. That follows up previous rumors that he wanted his shooting schedule to be reduced to 50 days for the first batch of Season 5 episodes. Costner’s attorney denied those allegations this past February to Puck, calling them “an absolute lie.” It’s ridiculous – and anyone suggesting it shouldn’t be believed for one second. As everyone who knows anything about Kevin is well aware, he is incredibly passionate about the show and has always gone way above and beyond to ensure its success.”
When that story broke earlier this year, Paramount issued a statement about the planned upcoming spinoffs without Costner, one starring Matthew McConaughey. “We have no news to report. Kevin Costner is a big part of “Yellowstone” and we hope that’s the case for a long time to come,” said Paramount. “Thanks to the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan, we are always working on franchise expansion of this incredible world he has built. Matthew McConaughey is a phenomenal talent with whom we’d love to partner.”
There’s no official release date for Part 2 of “Yellowstone” Season 5 yet. But if things get testier between Costner, Paramount, and Taylor Sheridan, maybe expect the wait for the rest of the series to be a little longer than expected – even with the strikes.