Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone Return: A Question Mark Looms Over His Intentions

Kevin Costner’s One Condition for a Yellowstone Return is So Subjective He May be Indirectly Hinting He’s Never Coming Back

Kevin Costner sure knows how to keep the fans on their toes by dangling his Yellowstone return as bait.

The big question that keeps popping up amid Kevin Costner and Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone fallout is whether the Oscar-winning actor will ever return to the Paramount series without further escalation of the already overblown drama.

As fans, critics, and studio execs watch the unfolding situation that can arguably rival the plot of Yellowstone itself, Costner remains divided over his attachment to the series that very much propelled him to the forefront of fame and relevance as an A-lister.

After years of feuding and inaction, Kevin Costner’s unwillingness to resolve the tension between him and the director is evidence enough of their growing chasm. Moreover, with the public’s attention increasing with every passing month, there seems to be no fitting end to the Yellowstone equation other than the good old formula of forgive-and-forget.

Kevin Costner Makes No Excuse For Yellowstone Absence

Although the situation revolving around Kevin Costner and Taylor Sheridan has escalated beyond the bounds of studio system, potential negotiations, lawyer talk, and reparations, Yellowstone still needs to finish its arc compellingly in the coming years, given Sheridan’s utter hatred for endings without closures. After all, he already was on the receiving end of one such plot line and since then decided, “I don’t do ‘f–k you’ car crashes.” [via The Hollywood Reporter]

Kevin Costner, on the other hand, believes every man has a limit to his capacity for patience, and after Yellowstone Season 5, he had already reached his. The initial plan to film one season and bid adieu to the series didn’t take with the studio execs. Each new negotiation had Paramount adding another season to Costner’s already existing contract to the point where a single season extended to seven in total, with Costner as a willing participant.

Inadvertently, Paramount later became party to the fallout between Costner and Sheridan after the writer-director was tasked with coming up with multiple new series with sweeping new plots, dramatic new storylines, attractive new characters that almost ran parallel to each other on the streamer. With Yellowstone put on hold due to Sheridanʼs lack of oversight and minimal involvement, Costner was done waiting around after 14 months went by without any progress.

Kevin Costner unapologetically announced that even though he had decided to put his own movie on hold to finish filming Yellowstone first, after the lack of organized filming schedules, multiple delays, and finding no end in sight, he had decided to put Horizon first for once. His passion project which was bankrolled almost entirely by his own money, now takes off at the same time as Yellowstone Season 6 begins production.

Kevin Costner Strangely Teases His Yellowstone Return

The multiple reports, interviews, and updates that have covered the news of Kevin Costner’s further involvement with Yellowstone have all been non-starters as far as his intentions are concerned. The actor’s schedule has now opened up after Horizon: An American Saga has already launched to thundering applause and standing ovation at Cannes.

On the surface, there seems to be no reason to further delay the announcement of his return to Yellowstone to close off the series arc for good and put all the drama behind him. However, a recent interview with IndieWire took an interesting turn after Costner addressed the issue in a manner that reflects his decision to return may be subject to condition.

I know they’ll probably do [Yellowstone] without me. I’m open to coming back. But I basically have to see what the scripts are about. But now Horizon has my first position.

With Horizon – Chapter One being received by a 7-minute standing ovation, Costner may very well be serious in his intentions to dial back on his Yellowstone commitments and get back in the director’s saddle for good. With Chapter Two still left to be filmed, Horizon could be the condition that ultimately stands between Kevin Costner and Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone finale.

Yellowstone is available for streaming on Paramount+