To anyone paying attention, it seems Kevin Costner and “Yellowstone” are forever

separated. After the actor, who plays ranch owner John Dutton, bowed out of the

hugely popular neo-Western series during its season five break, a protracted

mudslinging match took place, with Costner on one side and Paramount and series

creator Taylor Sheridan on the other. For their part, the network and Sheridan maintained that Costner’s commitment to his “Horizon” saga of films made planning the second half of season five difficult, while Costner claimed he never even saw scripts for the remaining episodes and wasn’t about to wait around when he had a cast and crew ready to go for his passion project.

“Yellowstone” was also hampered by the Hollywood strikes of 2023, which combined with the Costner debacle meant that season 5B of the series was ultimately pushed from November 2023 to November 2024. What’s more, with Costner seemingly out, Paramount appeared to be wrapping up the series with 5B, putting Sheridan in the tough position of finishing his show without its star. According to the cast and crew, however, Costner’s exit from “Yellowstone” was never going to change the ending, as Sheridan had a plan for his show from the very beginning and was going to stick to it no matter what. Making things even more complicated, it now seems as though “Yellowstone” could live on into a post-Costner age, with Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser in talks to star in a potential sixth season of the show.

In short, then, it’s all a bit of a mess. But what’s really interesting is that in the months leading up to the debut of season 5B, which is now set to arrive on November 10, 2024, Costner suddenly seemed more amenable to returning, raising all sorts of questions about which direction the show will take.

Kevin Costner isn’t against returning as John Dutton

At the height of the quarrel between Taylor Sheridan and Kevin Costner, things got pretty heated, with Costner claiming that he’d probably have to go to court over the whole “Yellowstone” debacle. The actor also hinted that Sheridan’s commitment to the multiple “Yellowstone” spin-offs was delaying writing on the main series, while the series creator suggested Costner’s commitment to the “Horizon” films was the main issue. None of this suggested the pair would be making up any time soon, which makes Costner’s recent comments slightly unusual.

The veteran star spoke to Entertainment Tonight, about “Yellowstone,” calling the show “a wonderful part of [his] life” before adding, “Who knows, sometimes some things have a way of circling back.” It follows similar comments from the actor, with Costner seemingly becoming open to reappearing in “Yellowstone,” under the condition that he “felt comfortable” with it. That’s a markedly different tone to the one the actor struck during the show’s hiatus, especially since he went on to tell ET, “I haven’t seen that dust trail coming toward me. But I’ve always been open to what I started. And the five seasons [were] a lot for us to do. I think that, you know, that story is not finished.”

All of that sounds somewhat positive but it raises a big question about how a potential Costner return would work, mainly due to the fact everyone’s expecting John Dutton to kick the bucket in season 5B.

How can John Dutton return if he’s dead?

At this point, it’s unclear whether season 5B of “Yellowstone” will be the series’ last. While Paramount previously confirmed that these episodes would be the final installments, when the trailer for 5B dropped, it did so without much fanfare. Typically you’d expect a network to make a big deal out of the last ever episodes of a series, which suggested “Yellowstone” had life in it yet. It seems, however, that much of that depends on whether Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser actually sign on for a sixth season. But if Kevin Costner is game for another go-round, then he better hope Taylor Sheridan hasn’t killed him off in the back half of season five.

Costner’s “Yellowstone” contract has a unique stipulation that asserts that John Dutton has to be given a “moral death” — essentially meaning Sheridan has to preserve the guy’s respectability when he does kill him off. However it happens, many fans have been expecting Dutton to give up the ghost in season 5B, but if Costner’s story is indeed “not finished,” as the actor put it, does that mean he’ll survive the second half of season five?

Frankly, all this positivity from Costner seems a bit late. “Yellowstone” season 5B is shot and ready to go, with even the cast not really knowing how the whole thing wraps up thanks to Paramount handing out redacted scripts and going to extreme lengths to prevent plot leaks. If Sheridan wrote the darn thing during the height of his and Costner’s heated dispute, I can’t imagine Dutton will make it out alive — especially if Sheridan had, as he’s previously claimed, always seen the show lasting only five seasons. With “Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 1” faring poorly at the box office, perhaps Costner is simply testing the waters to see if Sheridan and co. will take him back. For now, though, it seems much more likely that John Dutton is a goner and there’s not much anyone can do about that at this stage.