Kevin Costner Says He Offered to Let ‘Yellowstone’ Writers Kill Off His Character: ‘If You Want to’

Kevin Costner revealed that he offered to let the Yellowstone writers kill off his character, John Dutton, amid his rumored drama with the show’s creator, Taylor Sheridan, over scheduling conflicts with the actor’s film Horizon: An American Saga.

“At one point they said to me that we don’t have an ending or anything,” Kevin, 69, told GQ in an interview published on Monday, May 20. “I said, ‘Well, if you want to kill me, if you want to do something like that,’ I said, ‘I have a week before I start [filming Horizon.] I’ll do what you want to do.’”

A Paramount Network spokesperson refuted Kevin’s account of the conversation, according to the publication.

The first half of Yellowstone season 5 premiered in November 2022. A few months later, in February 2023, Deadline reported that Kevin had a disagreement with producers over the hit Western series’ filming schedule and wanted to film eight episodes in a week. However, the actor’s lawyer, Marty Singer, shut down the claim.

“The idea that Kevin was only willing to work one week on the second half of season 5 of Yellowstone is an absolute lie,” Singer told Puck News. “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.”

The Dances With Wolves star told GQ that he wanted to give the writers a week before he started filming Horizon to figure out what to do with his character in such a way that the show could continue without him. However, the rumor began that he wanted to film all eight episodes of the final season’s second half in one week.

“My big disappointment is I never heard Paramount or 101 really come to my defense and say, ‘That’s not true. He was going to do three more seasons,’” Kevin said. “That’s really f--king bothered me, that none of them would actually try to set the record straight.”

A Paramount Network spokesperson told GQ in a statement, “Kevin has been a big part of Yellowstone’s success. While we had hoped that we would continue working with him, unfortunately, we could not find a window that worked for him, all the other talent, and our production needs in order to move forward together. We respect that Kevin has prioritized his new film series and we wish him the best.”

Kevin broke his silence about the rumored drama for the first time in an interview with Deadline published on May 13.

“I haven’t felt good about it the last year, what with the way they’ve talked about it. It wasn’t truthful,” he said. “So now I’m talking about a little bit about what the real truth of it was. I made a contract for seasons five, six and seven. In February, after a two- or three-month negotiation, they made another contract. They wanted to redo that one, and instead of seasons six and seven, it was 5A and 5B, and maybe we’ll do six. They weren’t able to make those. Horizon was set in the middle, but Yellowstone was first position. I fit [Horizon] into the gaps. They just kept moving their gaps.”

Paramount announced in May 2023 that Yellowstone would end after season 5. After several delays, the network confirmed via a press release on Monday that the series had begun production on the second half of the season in Montana, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It’s not confirmed whether or not Kevin will return for the final episodes.

“Taylor and I know what the conditions are for coming back, and I’ll just keep that between ourselves,” he told GQ.