Kevin Costner Breaks His Silence on ‘Yellowstone’ Exit, Hints at Future Legal Battle

Following months of rumors and reports about Kevin Costner’s status on Yellowstone and his split from estranged wife Christine Baumgartner, Costner finally had a chance to say his piece on some of the drama unfolding around him. In court on Friday, the Oscar winner took the stand to testify amid his child support dispute with Baumgartner — during which his Yellowstone status came up in questioning.

Based on reports on the hearing from Fox News, Deadline and Entertainment Tonight, Costner emphasized that his massive Yellowstone salary in recent years should not be figured into his monthly payments because he is done with the show. This fact would mean that Costner, 68, does not plan on returning to film anything for the second half of Yellowstone Season 5. However, Costner notes that he is still negotiating the exact terms of his exit from the series. He cited possible legal proceedings that could occur over Costner’s unexpected departure from the show, though Paramount, who owns Yellowstone, has not commented on any possible legal action against Costner.

Costner, who plays John Dutton on Yellowstone, says that Paramount offered him $24 million to continue working on the show through a planned seventh season. However, the deal fell apart when the two parties had creative issues. “We did negotiate,” Costner reportedly said in court. “There were issues about creative. I tried to break the log jam. They walked away.”

Costner also noted his displeasure with the two-part filming/release plan for Season 5 of the Paramount Network drama. He saw it as clashing with production on Horizon, his upcoming Western film series. (Deadline previously reported that Costner wanted to reduce his filming for Season 5B down to one week in order to focus on Horizon. However, the actor’s lawyer, Marty Singer, disputed that report.)

“Somewhere along the line they wanted to change things,” Costner said. “They wanted to do 5A and 5B… affected Horizon. I was going to do my movie Horizon and leave that show, do my movie, then do B. A show I was only doing once a year I was now doing twice.” 

The judge sided in Costner’s favor in the child support dispute. Costner had argued that since his massive Yellowstone earnings will not be part of his financial intake going forward, he should have his payments reduced. The court agreed, reducing payments from $129,000 to $63,209. Baumgartner had hoped for an increase to $161,000.

Yellowstone airs on Paramount Network, as it has for four-and-a-half seasons. Paramount sold streaming rights to the Taylor-Sheridan-created series to Peacock, where Seasons 1-4, as well as the first half of Season 5, streaming there now. CBS is also airing re-runs of the show to fill airtime as Hollywood’s actors and writers strike. Paramount Network intends to wrap up the show before transitioning into a new sequel series starring Matthew McConaughey.