‘Yellowstone’: Kevin Costner Plots New TV Show

Oscar-winner Kevin Costner has a new TV series in the works at ABC. The Disney-owned network gave a pilot order for National Parks, a crime procedural that plays out in the beautiful landscapes of America’s national parks. Costner, who stars on Paramount Network’s Yellowstone, is writing and co-producing the drama.

National Parks will be a one-hour drama and produced by Costner’s Territory Pictures Entertainment, 20th Television, and A+E Studios reports Deadline. It was previously known as ISB and centers on a group of elite national parks service agents who solve crimes in the parks. Costner wrote the pilot with Aaron Helbing (The Flash, Knightfall) and author Jon Baird, who are also executive producers. Other executive producers are Territory Pictures’ Rod Lake, Ivan Cohen, and Ken Halsband; and Barry Jossen and Tana Jamieson of A+E Studios.

Helbing will serve as showrunner. Anthony Hemingway (Underground, Power) will direct the pilot and is an executive producer. “Our partners at ABC, 20th Television, and A+E Studios have given me a great environment to step out of my comfort zone and deliver something special,” Costner said in a statement to Deadline.

Costner now stars in Yellowstone, which also credits him as an executive producer. He stars as John Dutton, the patriarch of a wealthy family that controls the largest contiguous ranch in the U.S. and is fighting to keep control of his land. Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, Cole Hauser, Kelsey Asbille, Gil Birmingham, and Ian Bohen also star in the series. It was created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson.

Yellowstone was renewed for a fourth season, but the Season 3 finale’s cliffhanger left fans wondering if Costner would be coming back. At the end, John was shot while he tried to help someone by the side of the road. During a Good Day New York interview, Costner could not spoil anything about his character’s fate. “I can’t say. There’s an ending that you’re gonna see, hopefully, it’s a powerful one for you,” Costner said. “I try to make things and be a part of things that have a dramatic arc to them. Just try to enjoy it right up to the end if you can.”

National Parks is the latest drama pilot from ABC. The network also picked up Zahir McGhee’s Queens, a 1990s-set drama about a hip hop group. ABC also ordered a pilot for Epic, an anthology fairy tale drama from Once Upon a Time duo Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis. Sources told The Hollywood Reporter the show will focus on Disney characters.