Yellowstone star Luke Grimes revealed he has not spoken to former co-star Kevin Costner since he left

the show amid allegations of tension with show creator Taylor Sheridan.

Luke plays Kayce Dutton, the son of patriarch John Dutton – played by Kevin.

Luke, 40, was asked by Men’s Health if they are still in contact, to which he said: ‘No, I haven’t talked to him since. It’s not a case of any hard feelings or anything; its just, he’s Kevin Costner,’ he said with a laugh.

‘He’s a big deal. I do have his phone number – I just don’t feel like it’s my place to reach out. He can reach out to me if he wants,’ Luke continued.

In the show, Kevin’s character John was unexpectedly killed in a murder-for-hire plot during the premiere of Yellowstone’s season five part two.

He was killed in the first few minutes of the premiere, with the show wasting no time revealing he had passed by suicide by gunshot – after Kevin acrimoniously exited the show amid a rumored feud with showrunner Taylor.

Kevin made a dramatic exit from the series over scheduling conflicts with his Western movie franchise Horizon.

Luke added to Men’s Health that ‘none of us saw it coming the way it did, and obviously there was news about possible blowups behind the scenes or whatever. But just like in life, man, these things happen, they happen fast, and they’re not predictable.’

Adding: ‘I lost my father a few years ago. It happened fast, and it was not the way that you would think that that would happen. In life, these things happen and then people have to start making decisions.’

Luke noted: ‘And in our little Yellowstone world, that helped ramp the show up into a boil.’

Last week, Luke admitted that he was a bit relieved after his Yellowstone costar, Kevin Costner, left their hit show following alleged tension with creator Taylor.

During his interview with Esquire, the actor revealed that filming without the two-time Oscar winner, 69, made things much smoother for him and the rest of the cast.

‘Hopefully everyone can see that it was time,’ Luke said of Kevin departing from the neo-Western drama. ‘To be really honest, there was a part of Kevin being gone that meant some of the conflict was gone.’

He continued: ‘Obviously, it didn’t make it super fun to be around… Not pointing any fingers, but it was actually the easiest season we’ve filmed.’

Previously, Luke reminded viewers that it was ‘always the plan’ to have John die.

‘It was always the plan for him to have to go away for the story to really ramp up, and that was the story. You lose a patriarch of the family. Can the kids do it on their own?’ he told People.

He admitted, ‘there’s been some negative reactions’ to Dutton’s death, which was first revealed as a suicide – which most fans didn’t agree with – and later revealed as a hit performed by a company specializing in making homicides look like deaths by other means, namely accidents or suicides.

‘I think they feel sort of cheated. And what I would say to that is, I think we were all lucky to have Kevin on the show as long as we did,’ Luke said.

He also added that the original plan was to kill off John Dutton much earlier in the story.

‘I think originally he was supposed to die much earlier. So, in a way, they got way more of John Dutton than they were going to originally get. I would keep that in mind,’ Luke added.

‘If it happened in such a shocking, quick way, that’s how life works, right? I mean, when you lose people, it’s sometimes not how you planned and not when you think it’s going to be,’ he continued.

Kevin revealed in June that when he was pitched the show by Sheridan, his character was only going to be around for one season.

‘When it was first pitched to me by Taylor [Sheridan] it was one season and [like] a long movie, which [is] speaking my language… but ultimately, I think what happened was the studio didn’t want that,’ Costner said.

‘And because he’s such a prolific writer, he said, “I can do that. I can make a series that goes on,”‘ Kevin added.

He ultimately ‘stepped up’ and agreed to, ‘do it for three seasons, and I ended up doing it for five.’

He also went on to praise Sheridan, stating, ‘I liked the writing and really, really liked what Taylor was doing.’

‘He understood the world of modern-day ranching and was able to create all this other type of drama inside it, but in an effective way,’ Costner added.