TV exits are nothing new, whether we’re talking about shows that are ending or actors vacating projects, but Yellowstone fans likely wouldn’t have ever predicted the western hit would deal with both of those blows in the same midseason hiatus cycle. (Albeit, it’s a hiatus that will span nearly two years when Season 5’s final episodes air November.) The big looming question over Kevin Costner’s potential return as John Dutton was “officially” answered by the actor, who now says he definitely isn’t coming back.
As much as that sucks in the overall sense of not closing out the series in a way that honors its core (dysfunctional) family unit, it’s maddening that fans have dutifully followed the stick and carrot ever since Yellowstone’s endgame was revealed back in May 2023, only for literally nothing to have changed from an outsider perspective. Why did we have to wait all this time for an answer we’d already started to come to terms with so many moons prior?
In that respect, Kevin Costner probably deserves some appreciation for finally drawing a line in the sand and refusing to continue answering questions about a potential return that he clearly didn’t think was going to get worked out. On the red carpet for the first chapter of his new western epic Horizon: An American Saga, the Oscar-winning filmmaker talked to Variety about why he decided to be the one to end the guessing games himself by going public, saying:
I've been talking to the press for, it feels like, the last month and a half, and they've been asking me the same questions. I just finally tried to go to the people that have been following me and let them know that this was the moment to really step off. And we'll see what the future is but this was the moment to say, 'We're stepping off.'
Interestingly (and frustratingly) enough, Kevin Costner’s response there doesn’t indicate that anything changed behind the scenes on his end, and doesn’t make it sound as if conversations about finalizing contract negotiations were ongoing throughout his press campaign for Horizon. Rather, it sounds like he just got tired of giving journalists inauthentic answers to authentic questions that he knew fans would be poring over as Yellowstone continues its production on the final episodes in Montana.
So going with the assumption that no major setbacks suddenly went down behind the scenes, I gotta wonder why it took this flipping long just to get back to square one?!? Not even that, really, since it took a year to learn that we wouldn’t ever actually be leaving square one in the first place.
What was the point of all the silence and all the waiting without anyone on Paramount Network’s side offering up any clear updates that weren’t in the form of press releases? If there were legitimately talks happening between lawyers and agents and managers and whatnot, then that’s all fine and dandy. But without anyone letting fans in on that bit of knowledge, it just seems like the only forward momentum was in how irked the fanbase has become about it all.
Each time Kevin Costner talked about it, he didn’t mince words, but still left an olive branch of hope in saying he was hopeful to close out John’s story. Perhaps that was also his way of sending a message to Paramount’s execs, if communication by other means wasn’t happening.
Whatever the reason, I have less enthusiasm than ever about what’s coming in the final episodes of Yellowstone’s run, and that sense of malaise carries on in part to other upcoming Yellowstone universe shows. Maybe one day a whole bunch of details will come out that will shine new contextual light on all of this, but until that happens, not even Gator’s Cajun cooking could get the negative taste out of my mouth. (Though I’d damn sure try.)
Yellowstone will return to Paramount Network for its final episodes on Sunday, November 10. Head to our 2024 TV premiere schedule
