Kevin Costner Breaks His Silence Regarding His Potential ‘Yellowstone’ Return

Kevin Costner has broken his silence regarding a possible return to his hit series Yellowstone.

Speculation has swirled for the best part of a year regarding Costner’s relationship with Taylor Sheridan’s wildly popular thriller. Despite starring as patriarch John Dutton in the first five seasons, Costner’s return has been in flux.

Last year, he announced he wouldn’t be returning for the next season. Shortly thereafter, Sheridan announced the series would be ending after the next round of episodes, which have yet to be produced. Reports indicate that the source of trouble was Costner demanding too much money from the network; or, alternatively, his butting heads with Sheridan over creative decisions.

This week, the Dances with Wolves star was on hand at CinemaCon to promote his epic four-part western, Horizon: An American Saga, the first two installments of which hit theaters this summer. During his visit, he spoke with Entertainment Tonight about Yellowstone, giving his most explicit remarks on the controversy to date.

“I’d like to be able to do it but we haven’t been able to,” Costner lamented of the sixth season. “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.”

Some reports have indicated that Costner wanted a certain amount of control over Dutton’s fate, which the actor seemed to confirm to ET. “[Dutton] needs to be proactive in what happens and, I’ve kind of had my own fantasy,” Costner explained. “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.”

In a Puck post (via Town & Country) from last month, industry insider Matt Belloni revealed that Yellowstone may not have an interest in bringing Costner back even if the actor wanted to return. According to Belloni, the scripts for season six have been written and do not include Costner’s character.

Another Puck report laid out details of the so-called “moral death clause” in Costner’s contract, which dictates the ways Dutton may and may not be killed off within the show, should it come to that.

Neither Costner, Paramount, nor Sheridan have made an official announcement regarding the actor’s potential return. The new season of Yellowstone is set to premiere in November, according to the studio.