Taylor Sheridan Breaks Silence On Kevin Costner's Yellowstone Exit

In a lengthy profile in The Hollywood Reporter, Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan shares how he feels about Kevin Costner leaving the hit Paramount show.

Earlier this year, Costner shocked the Yellowstone-verse by deciding he wanted to exit the series to focus on his own Western epic, a four-movie saga titled Horizon that he’s co-writing, directing, and starring in. 

"My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn't altered," Sheridan tells the outlet. "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. But 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. 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."

"I'm disappointed," Sheridan continues. "It truncates the closure of his character. It doesn't alter it, but it truncates it."

Paramount announced that Yellowstone will return in November, which looks highly unlikely given the writers strike. (Sheridan insists he’s dutifully pencils down at the moment, and that he broadly supports the WGA’s efforts.) In a bit of good news for fans, however, Sheridan suggests he might make more than the previously reported six final episodes.

“If I think it takes 10 episodes to wrap it up, they’ll give me 10,” Sheridan says. “It’ll be as long as it needs to be.”