The 69-year-old actor told “CBS Sunday Morning” on June 16 that he’s willing to return to the hit Paramount series, which recently started production on the second half of its fifth and final season.
“If I like the story, where it was going, I would go back,” he said.
Costner played rancher John Dutton for four and a half seasons on “Yellowstone,” before he exited the series and started working on his western movie “Horizon: An American Saga.”
However, Costner told CBS that his reason for leaving “Yellowstone” had nothing to do with his new multi-film big screen project.
“I did everything that I was contracted to do with ‘Yellowstone,’ ” said Costner.
In May 2023, news broke that Costner would not return to “Yellowstone” after Season 5. (This was before Paramount said that Season 5 would be the show’s last.) That same month, it was announced that the show would end with Season 5, leading to speculation that the show was ending in part because Costner was leaving.
There were also reports that Costner refused to be on set filming for more than one week for the second half of Season 5, which Costner’s attorney denied.
The Golden Globe winner finally broke his silence about the feud rumors with creator Taylor Sheridan last month.
“I have taken a beating from those f–king guys, and I know a lot of times where it’s coming from. I just elected not to get into that. But if you know me well enough, I made ‘Yellowstone’ the first priority, and to insinuate anything else would be wrong. I did not initiate any of those things. They did,” Costner told Deadline.
Sheridan, for his part, made it seem like Costner wanted to leave “Yellowstone” to make “Horizon.”
“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,” Sheridan, 54, told the Hollywood Reporter last year.
The creator added, “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.”
Despite the drama, Costner has shown some interest in rejoining “Yellowstone” before the series wraps production for good.
He told “Entertainment Tonight” in April, “I thought I was going to make seven [seasons of ‘Yellowstone’] but right now we’re at five. So how it works out — and I hope it does — but they’ve got a lot of different shows going on,” he said. “Maybe it will [work out]. Maybe this will circle back to me.”
The first half of “Yellowstone” Season 5 finished in January 2023. The final episodes are shooting now and are scheduled to air starting in November 2024.