The Hollywood star Kevin Costner is speaking out this week to reveal that he was so desperate to get off the hit show Yellowstone that he offered for his character John Dutton to be killed off.
Costner Sounds Off
Costner, 69, was reportedly eager to get off the show Yellowstone so that he could make his passion project four-part film series Horizon: An American Saga. Part one of the movie series premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Sunday, and afterwards, Costner opened up about wanting to leave Yellowstone.
“I felt time slipping,” he told GQ. “I thought the window was closing on me being able to be an effective part in that movie.”
This led to Costner resorting to desperate measures when it came to Yellowstone.
“And so I basically burned my ships,” he recalled. “Like Cortés, we’re … here. I’m going to make this. And I mortgaged property. Now do you get it?”
Costner has reportedly spent $98 million of his own money on the first three Horizon movies. The fourth is set to bring him over the $100 million mark.
“I’ve always wanted to do this movie, and I was doing Yellowstone. I love Yellowstone,” he explained.
Costner showed his commitment to Yellowstone when he renegotiated his original three-season deal to extend to as many as seven total seasons, according to Fox News.
Find out more about this in the video below.
Production Delays On Yellowstone
However, production delays brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and the writers’ and actors’ strikes had a devastating impact on scheduling. This led Costner to feel like he didn’t have any time to set aside for Horizon.
“We very rarely started when we said we would, and we didn’t finish when we said we would,” he recounted. “And I was OK with that. I really was. I was OK with it, but it wasn’t a trend that could continue for me.”
When Costner was told that season five of Yellowstone would be split into two parts, he remembers, “I said, ‘I have a contract to do “Horizon,” and I have people and money.’ I think there was a belief that I couldn’t get it mounted, but I didn’t really care what anybody believed.”
Costner went on to claim that the “scripts never came.” Becoming desperate, he began to make offers to producers about what they could do to his character.
“‘Well, if you want to kill me, if you want to do something like that,’ I said, ‘I have a week before I start. I’ll do what you want to do,'” he stated.
Related: Kevin Costner Breaks His Silence – Finally Addresses His ‘Yellowstone’ Character’s Fate
Paramount Fires Back
The same day that Costner gave this interview, Paramount released a statement saying that production on the second half of season five of Yellowstone has already begun. Episodes will reportedly begin to be available in November.
Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan has revealed that he doesn’t know just how many episodes there will be.
“If I think it takes 10 episodes to wrap it up, they’ll give me 10,” he said. ” It’ll be as long as it needs to be.”
Paramount also responded to Costner’s comments by saying that “Kevin has been a big part of Yellowstone’s success.”
“While we had hoped that we would continue working with him, unfortunately, we could not find a window that worked for him, all the other talent, and our production needs in order to move forward together,” the network added.
Related: Kevin Costner Reportedly Wants To Return To ‘Yellowstone’ – ‘Hopes To Leverage’ Fan Support
Will Costner Return To Yellowstone?
As for whether he’d ever return to Yellowstone, Costner said, “Well, Taylor and I know what the conditions are for coming back, and I’ll just keep that between ourselves.”
“And if we can’t get to it, it’s because at the end of the day, it’s unreasonable for them or something,” he concluded.
Watch Costner talk about some of his most iconic characters in the video below.
Yellowstone is one of the best shows on television today, and Costner was a huge part of the show’s success. Only time will tell if his Yellowstone character of John Dutton will get the sendoff that he deserves!
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