Kevin Costner Lays out His Side of the ‘Yellowstone’ Contract Debacle

The controversy surrounding the conclusion of Yellowstone has been making headlines for more than a year. Now, series star Kevin Costner is speaking up and laying out his side of the contract debacle that reportedly led to the show ending.

Speaking to Deadline in support of his new film, Horizon, debuting at the Cannes Film Festival, Costner said that he hasn’t “felt good about” the conversation surrounding the show over “the last year, what with the way they’ve talked about it.” 

“It wasn’t truthful,” Costner continued. “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, but Yellowstone was first position. I fit [Horizon] into the gaps. They just kept moving their gaps.”

Costner went on to state that there was a breakdown in the communication over filming, which caused issues, and added that Taylor Sheridan and the writing staff “didn’t have the scripts” completed, so filming couldn’t have taken place on time.

“I’m very open to coming back,” the actor later added. “If they’ve got so many other things going on, maybe this circles back and it’s a really cool two seasons. Or end it, if the writing’s there and I’m happy with it. I’m open to that. But I took a beating over these guys not speaking up for me and allowing crazy stories to come out.”

“I’m not happy about that. But if the writing is there, I will be there too,” Costner continued. “They had first position. I didn’t do Horizon because I was tired of doing Yellowstone. That’s a bulls— story. I didn’t do Horizon to compete with Yellowstone. This is something I’ve had a long time.”

“Taylor read that script three years earlier when he was contemplating other writers [for Yellowstone],” he went on to say. “I said, well, you can look at what John [Baird] and I did, not that I think I’m qualified. I think you write Yellowstone beautifully. So, he read that and knew what the thing was about. It’s just that simple: Paramount and 101 Studios mismanaged this. They had me for five, six, and seven. I agreed to do it. And then they steadily began changing their format. And what about the year that went missing? That 14 months?”

Finally, Costner commented on other Yellowstone actors working out new deals for a spinoff series, saying, “I think that they should do whatever they want to do. Am I open to coming back? I’ve never been in a position to tell them what to do. I can only do what I can do.”