In a rare interview, Yellowstone lead actor Kevin Costner addressed his future on the popular Western series. While the Costner expressed his desire to return, the drama that unfolded over the last year and a half between the actor, the show’s creator, and the network, may make that difficult.

Yellowstone is Paramount Network’s modern-day Western drama that centers around the Dutton family, owners of the largest ranch in Montana. The show follows the family’s struggles to protect their land from land developers, political rivals and other external threats. Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, Cole Hauser, Kelsey Asbille and more also star.

In May 2023, Paramount Network announced that Yellowstone would end after Season 5. The last season had been divided into two parts (the first eight episodes were broadcast between November 2022 and January 2023, while the remaining part was scheduled for November 2023). However, the now-resolved Hollywood strikes delayed production, pushing the new release date to November 2024.

While speaking to Entertainment Tonight backstage in CinemaCon in April 2024, the Horizon star opened up about the final season of Yellowstone. Costner surprised many by saying he wants to return for the final part of Yellowstone, which is slated to return this fall.

“I’d like to be able to do it but we haven’t been able to,” Costner told ET. “…I thought I was going to make seven [seasons] but right now we’re at five. So how it works out — I hope it does — but they’ve got a lot of different shows going on. Maybe it will. Maybe this will circle back to me. If it does and I feel really comfortable with [it], I’d love to do it.”

The Horizon actor even talked about how he would like John Dutton’s story to wrap up in Yellowstone. “Well, you know, he needs to be proactive in what happens and I’ve kind of had my own fantasy how it might be,” Costner added, “but that’s Taylor’s thing. I said as much to him a while back. I had thoughts how it could happen, but we just have to see.”

The surprising interview comes after last year’s reported drama that involved Costner, the actor’s limited shooting schedule for Horizon (Costner’s new four-part Western feature film), and alleged tension with the show’s creator, Taylor Sheridan.

Although Costner is expressing interest to continue filming, Sheridan will have to approve his return, and Paramount Network will have to negotiate a new contract — which reportedly didn’t go well last year.

During a child support hearing on September 1, 2023, Costner testified that he was offered a sixth season of Yellowstone, but negotiations didn’t go to plan. He claimed at the time that he was offered less money and that there were “creative” issues. (In 2022, Variety reported that Costner was making $1.3 million per episode.) The 68-year-old actor also said via court documents that he was “no longer under contract” for the hit drama.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in June 2023, Sheridan admitted that Costner’s absence from the final part of Season 5 “truncates the closure of his character.” He continued, “It doesn’t alter it, but it truncates it.” But John Dutton was never going to be around for the very end of the show, the show’s creator said. The ending of Yellowstone remains unchanged from his original movie script.

“I don’t do fuck-you car crashes,” Sheridan said when asked if he was going to kill off the patriarch in the Grey’s Anatomy way. “Whether [Dutton’s fate] inflates [Costner’s] ego or insults is collateral damage that I don’t factor in with regard to storytelling.”

It’s unknown how Sheridan will map out Costner’s farewell. “My last conversation with Kevin was that he had this passion project he wanted to direct. He and the network were arguing about when he could be done with Yellowstone. I said, ‘We can certainly work a schedule toward [his preferred exit date],’ which we did,” Sheridan said in June last year. At the time, were ongoing discussions to convince Costner to film a few scenes to wrap up his character. Maybe after Coster’s renewed interest in 2024, John Dutton will get a proper goodbye after all.

In the meantime, Costner has been busy promoting his four-part feature film, Horizon, which will be released in theaters this summer. Chapter 1 will debut on June 28, 2024, while Chapter 2 will follow on August 16, 2024. “They’re all different films that all connect, so you’re watching a saga of these storylines that are happening,” Costner told Variety in 2022.

Stay tuned to learn more about Kevin Costner’s complicated involvement in Yellowstone moving forward.