For over a year, Kevin Costner has been at the center of controversy when it comes to the future of “Yellowstone.” Now, the actor is sharing the “real truth” about the behind-the-scenes drama and what led to the show’s delay.
In a new interview with Deadline, the 69-year-old actor, who portrays John Dutton lll in the series, says he “lived up” to his contract despite ongoing speculation and opened up about the series of events that led to the show’s demise.
“There was no script,” Costner, who has yet to film the second half of season 5 (5B), revealed. “And then things imploded. You’ve been reading one version [of the show’s issues] for a year and a half.”
After the first half of the fifth season aired late last year, the show took a break for the holidays. They were set to return to filming at the top of the new year, but that was pushed back to sometime this summer. A premiere date has not been announced.
‘YELLOWSTONE’ ENDING AFTER SECOND HALF OF SEASON FIVE AMID KEVIN COSTNER DRAMA
Kevin Costner has big plans for the new year, including the release of his four-part movie series, “Horizon.” (Mark Von Holden)
Multiple sources kept alleging that Costner only wanted to work for one week to film the rest of the episodes, which would be difficult to do as he is the star of the show.
“I left my movie [“Horizon”] to be on time for them for 5B,” Costner said. “I left exactly when they wanted, and it made it hard on me. It turns out they didn’t have the scripts for 5B. They needed four more days just to complete the first eight episodes. I left early to give them what they needed to have a complete eight, and I felt bad that the audience didn’t get 10. They didn’t have the scripts for anything else.”
He added, “So, what you read in the end was that I said, ‘Well, look, I’m doing my movie. If you want me to work a week because you want to kill me or whatever else, I can give you a week.’ I really didn’t have that week to give them, but I said, I’ll do that. And then they [spun that] into, I only wanted to work a week.”
“Do you think that’s who I am?,” he continued. “I’ve never missed a day of work. I’ve never left before fulfilling my contractual obligations. A lot of times, I stay as much as I can.”
Kevin Costner addressed his future as John Dutton on the hit show “Yellowstone.” (Paramount Network)
A representative for Costner did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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Costner, who has faced plenty of criticism over the future of the show, admitted he was “bothered” by the production’s lack of support.
“They were silent and that bothered me in the world of how you do things,” he confessed. “Why don’t you stick up for me? I went and sold this thing for you. I was going to only do one season. I made it for three. I fulfilled three. So, I went from one to three, then I did a fourth one for them, and they wanted to do three more. So, I made the contract to do that. They imploded. I had a contract to do five, six and seven. I was contracted to do that. There’s nothing I could have done to get out of that, nor was I trying to just figure out how, when we started.”
“[Production] didn’t have the scripts. And they wrote these other three shows,” he added, referencing the various “Yellowstone” spinoffs.
“They don’t ever talk about that. And all they did was remember we were releasing the series in June, then it moved to October. They covered by changing their release pattern. That time was about a 14-month period. I said, ‘I can’t ever go through that again, where you shut down for over a year and I don’t have something in line to do.’ All I did was protect myself, but I didn’t put myself in first position, over ‘Yellowstone.’ I filled the gaps. Do you see that?”
Kevin Costner said that he always put “Yellowstone” first. (Paramount Network)
Despite the ongoing drama, Costner – whose four-part post-Civil War drama “Horizon” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May – said he is “open” to coming back.
“I’m very open to coming back. If they’ve got so many other things going on, maybe this circles back and it’s a really cool two seasons,” he said. “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,” he admitted. “But if the writing is there, I will be there too. 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.”
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Kevin Costner is “open” to filming the last season of “Yellowstone.” (Paramount Network)
During an interview with Entertainment Tonight at CinemaCon in April, Costner said he has already envisioned how his character’s story line will end — but is not sure creator Taylor Sheridan will go in that direction.
“Well, you know, he needs to be proactive in what happens,” Costner told ET of his character. “And I’ve kind of had my own fantasy how it might be, but that’s Taylor’s thing. I said as much to him, you know, a while back. Maybe he doesn’t remember. I had thoughts how it could happen, but we just have to see.”
“I think that they should do whatever they want to do,” he told Deadline. “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.”
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Fox News Digital’s Emily Trainham contributed to this post.