When it came time for Kevin Costner to board Yellowstone, the movie icon already had more than a few Westerns under his belt. A legend in the genre, Costner is now treating fans to a Western TV show that follows the highs and lows of the Dutton family. Costner plays the family’s patriarch. Three successful seasons in, Costner is revealing why he believes the Western appeals to audiences.
Kevin Costner previously cited the scenic vistas that Yellowstone features as causing him to say “yes” to doing the show. While Costner has his reasons for joining the Western, he has other theories as to why the genre appeals to viewers. In Yellowstone’s case, it is set in the present-day as opposed to Costner’s historical Hatfields & McCoys. On that note, Costner weighed in on the genre’s appeal, telling Gold Derby:
Maybe we want to vicariously live through the days where we’d like to arbitrate our own problems instead of like when you feel offended you have to call a lawyer. You would like to handle it but you’ve got to call a lawyer or call an agent or a PR person and I think there’s something in us that deep down we would love to be able to sometimes have the satisfaction of arbitrating our own problems. Without people knowing it, they tie in a little bit to that taking a level of justice or what they perceive as justice and enjoying that idea.
Yellowstone is a prime example of what Kevin Costner mentions. In the show, Costner’s John Dutton and those at the eponymous ranch mete out what they believe to be justice. Look no further than when the Duttons went to war with the Beck brothers after Malcolm Beck orchestrated the attack on Beth. The Becks did not stop there either. They kidnapped John’s grandson.
As tends to be the case with Westerns, the Duttons went about getting justice on the Becks. Is seeing all of the conflicts that arise in a season get dealt with by John Dutton and his kids without an intermediary the appeal of the show? It makes sense that it could be part of it. Of course, Kevin Costner has shared other thoughts on Yellowstone.
He has expressed his affinity for filming in the great outdoors, which Yellowstone and other Westerns feature quite frequently. It does not hurt that in Westerns, Kevin Costner rarely has to wear a suit and tie. He is not a huge fan of that form of attire, as it turns out. As for Yellowstone itself, Costner has spoken proudly of the show’s historical backdrop catching fans’ eye.
Kevin Costner was admittedly a little hesitant to sign on for Yellowstone once it transitioned from a long movie to a TV series. It stands to reason that Yellowstone was the Western that Costner spoke about making all the way back in winter 2016. At the time, he mentioned doing a 10-hour-long movie within the genre and without giving much else away.
While filming on the new season of Yellowstone has been hard due to COVID, Kevin Costner is currently in the midst of it. Season 4 will air after this fall’s premieres in 2021 on the Paramount Network. Season 3 of Yellowstone begins streaming Sunday, November 22, on NBCUniversal’s Peacock.
