Is Kevin Costner really leaving Yellowstone? That's what rumors swirling about the actor would have you believe. But according to Costner's lawyer, anyone under the impression that the Dutton patriarch is quitting the massively popular series is sadly mistaken.
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In a recent interview with Puck News, Costner's attorney Marty Singer made an attempt to set the record straight.
"The idea that Kevin was only willing to work one week on the second half of Season 5 of Yellowstone is an absolute lie," said Singer. "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."
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Yellowstone fans were left reeling after Deadline reported in February that showrunner Taylor Sheridan, Paramount Network and Paramount Global were in talks to end "their signature show in its current form." Their reasoning? Costner had apparent scheduling conflicts that were never really fleshed out.
As the story goes, Costner had allegedly only wanted to film for a total of 50 days for the first half of Yellowstone Season 4 instead of 65. For the second half, he had only wanted to film for a single week. Puck reports that according to sources familiar with the matter, Costner had a bit of a complicated schedule due to contracting Covid.
Instead of making up the days he missed while filming, he took some time off and forced production to come to a halt, which meant filming couldn't happen until 2023. The result, an alleged compromise from Costner's lawyer Howard Kaplan, was offering a single week of summer shooting for the remaining episodes and a couple in October and November.
Another source countered that narrative, teling Puck News that filming had been scheduled to wrap completely in 2022, but Sheridan, undoubtedly one of the busiest men in Hollywood, didn't deliver scripts on time, and moved the schedule around.
The solution to the apparent problem was to, instead of canceling the show outright, bring in Matthew McConaughey as a new character. However, at the time, a spokesperson for the Paramount Network shot this rumor down.
"We have no news to report," they told Deadline. "Kevin Costner is a big part of Yellowstone, and we hope that's the case for a long time to come. Thanks to the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan, we are always working on franchise expansions of this incredible world he has built. Matthew McConaughey is a phenomenal talent with whom we'd love to partner."
What's going to happen next? The second half of the season is set to air this summer. Costner has not commented on the rumors, but it seems that, according to his attorney, all parties are likely looking to put all the speculation to rest. All we know is we're looking forward to more Yellowstone, no matter what form it takes.
