Kevin Costner's Controversy: Will Negativity Force Him Out of Yellowstone?
Yellowstone is one of those series, where off-screen conflict and drama might match those happening on-screen, at least if all the rumors are true.
To clarify, there are persistent rumors about an ongoing conflict between Kevin Costner, the lead star of the series, and its creator, Taylor Sheridan, caused by scheduling problems.
Costner is due to film his own western called Horizon and allegedly he wants to prioritize playing in it over his obligations to Yellowstone.
Naturally, Sheridan and Paramount Network strongly object. While both Costner's attorney and Paramount strongly refuted these rumors, they've failed to completely dispel worries of the fans.
Particularly as there is an observable slip of filming schedule for the second half of Yellowstone's fifth season. By now it is unlikely to air before the upcoming fall, probably November.
Now more information has arrived from ET Canada.
According to their sources, the rumors are quite real, and negativity surrounding the whole situation might cause Costner to quit Yellowstone altogether, because returning to the sets after all the quarreling would be difficult to him.
It is questionable whether Yellowstone could go on without Costner. While technically replacing him is possible (as we've explained before, see), few series have ever survived replacement of their lead actor.
A lot of the fans voice their belief that Costner as John Dutton is the face of Yellowstone and the core of the series' identity. We can only hope that Costner manages to settle his differences with the studio.
After all, there is probably not much of Yellowstone's story to tell, so he won't have to stay with it for long. Taylor Sheridan had indicated before that the ending is relatively near, and that he would prefer to finish the series before it gets stale.
Furthermore, he stated time and again that he had already planned the ending for Yellowstone, though he hadn't written it down yet.
And if the worst comes to the worst, the conflict becomes irreconcilable and main Yellowstone series manages to fall apart, the fans can at least take consolation in the prequels, set in the Yellowstone universe – 1883 and 1923.
Both of those have potential, so the franchise might continue through them.