What’s more, films like “Dances with Wolves” have earned him box office success and a couple of Academy Awards, further cementing his legacy as a big screen behemoth.

So, when the A-lister was approached about playing John Dutton in Taylor Sheridan’s “Yellowstone” (a neo-Western TV series that was seen as a risk at the time), Costner could have been forgiven for having reservations. Sometimes, though, risks pay off — and Costner felt that “Yellowstone” was worth the gamble.

In a 2022 interview with ComingSoon, Costner revealed that he is picky regarding his projects, and there are certain roles that do not appeal to him.

However, he has a history of starring in emotionally charged Westerns, and Sheridan’s series — which revolves around a dysfunctional family as they protect their ranch from no-good capitalists and crooks — appealed to his sensibilities. In this own words:

“I just needed to feel: Did this have a chance to 1) make me interested, and 2) Could an audience enjoy the same things that I was enjoying about it? So, I had to kind of make a fundamental decision about that.

I came to the conclusion, ‘Yeah, I think that people will really enjoy this.’ I didn’t predict that it would be a runaway success, but I’m not surprised at all that people do like it to the degree that they have liked it.”

“Yellowstone” has since spawned a franchise that keeps expanding, but Costner will not be part of its prosperous future.

That’s because his character on the show, John Dutton, was controversially killed off in “Yellowstone” season 5, and Costner’s relationship with Sheridan appears to have soured since then.

Kevin Costner won’t return to the Yellowstone universe
John Dutton standing in front of a mountainous backdrop on Yellowstone

Kevin Costner’s “Yellowstone” exit is a confusing mess. The actor reportedly left the hit series due to scheduling conflicts and creative differences with Taylor Sheridan, but other reports have mentioned contract disputes and legal complications as the reasons for his departure.

With John Dutton officially dead, it is difficult to imagine Costner returning to the cowboy franchise in any capacity — unless John appears via dream sequences, comes back as a zombie, gets cast in a prequel series, or Costner plays a new character entirely.

Not only that, but Costner also appears to have lost interest in watching “Yellowstone” now that he is gone from the series. After learning all about the way in which his character was killed off in season 5, Costner revealed that he was in no rush to see how John Dutton’s fate unfolded.

He further claimed that he never quit the show, suggesting that he would’ve been open to reprising the role of the Dutton family patriarch if his schedule had allowed it at the time.

It’s a shame that Costner’s “Yellowstone” journey ended on a bad note, as once upon a time, he was excited to be involved in Sheridan’s cowboy soap opera. What’s more, season 5 failed to capture the same highs the show experienced while he was part of the ensemble, and that sucked for fans who stuck with it until the end.