The creator of Yellowstone speaks out for the first time about Kevin Costner's exit

In a recent interview, Taylor Sheridan opened up about the rise of Yellowstone, and gives his honest thoughts about Kevin Costner leaving the franchise. 

In early 2023, Kevin Costner shocked audiences of the beloved neo-Western series Yellowstone by announcing his exit from the series. After nearly five seasons of the actor portraying John Dutton, the patriarch of the Dutton family on the Yellowstone Ranch in Montana, he would be exiting the franchise to pursue other career opportunities - mainly creating his own neo-Western series, titled Horizon. This leave of absence also came to fruition due to an alleged feud between Kevin and the creator of the Yellowstone franchise at large, Taylor Sheridan. 

This presented a problem for the production team, as they were still in the process of filming the yet-to-be-released second half of season 5 of the show - the final season of the series. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Kevin would take off for many days at a time, requesting a tighter schedule for his days on the Yellowstone set so that he could focus on his own career ventures.

Taylor told the Hollywood Reporter that he and Kevin had to work out a schedule to fit both of their needs. "My last conversation with Kevin was that he had this passion project he wanted to direct," Taylor said. "He and the network were arguing about when he could be done with Yellowstone. I said, ‘We can certainly work a schedule toward [his preferred exit date],’ which we did."

Still, Taylor admits that they are still waiting on Kevin to finish out filming season 5 for fans, wanting the story of the Dutton family to come to a full and appropriate close - but with Kevin's schedule, Taylor said, it's no so easy.

"My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered," he said. "His creation of John Dutton is symbolic and powerful … and I’ve never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn’t work out on the phone."

He continued: "Once lawyers get involved, then people don’t get to talk to each other and start saying things that aren’t true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting. He took a lot of this on the chin and I don’t know that anyone deserves it."

Despite his concern, he wished Kevin the best on his movie. "His movie seems to be a great priority to him and he wants to shift focus. I sure hope [the movie is] worth it — and that it’s a good one," he said.

But, despite any tension and Taylor's "disappointment" in Kevin, he says that he wouldn't dare make a forcible exit for John Dutton on the show that was tacky. 

"I don’t do fuck-you car crashes," he said, referencing TV shows that lazily kill their characters off in car crashes (a la Patrick Dempsey in Grey's Anatomy). “Whether [Dutton’s fate] inflates [Costner’s] ego or insults is collateral damage that I don’t factor in with regard to storytelling."