Of all the globally acclaimed masterpieces he has starred in to date, perhaps very few have garnered Kevin Costner as much attention as

Yellowstone. Not only did the series launch him as the iconic head of the Dutton family, John Dutton, but the masterpiece helmed by Taylor

Sheridan also cemented and elevated his position and status in the Western genre.

Of course, that was all in the past, for Costner seems to have moved past the ranch-y saga following his exit after season 5A. But when it goes back to the beginning, the actor had an incredibly good reason for hopping on board this spectacular series. If anything, his Western criteria seem to be just what helped him land and make such an amazing saga alongside Sheridan in the first place.

Kevin Costner Has the Perfect Criteria for Choosing Good Western Projects

While Yellowstone is one, it isn’t the only good Western project that Kevin Costner has been a part of. His 1990 Western adventure Dances with Wolves, for one, is not only one of his best pieces to date but also earned him two of the only Oscars of his entire career. That said, it might as well be admitted that the actor knows a good ranch-y project when he sees one.

This is a fact he has made evident through his statements where he shared his perspective on what he thinks makes a Western project succeed or fail. Talking to People, he said, “I’ve always believed a good Western isn’t always just rushing towards its gunfight. If you can create language and situations, and then you end up at a gunfight, I think it can be an amazing movie or TV show.”

To put it simply, the 69-year-old actor feels actual acting alongside action serves as the perfect way to flesh out Westerns.

At the same time, The Bodyguard star also shared what he believes results in a problem for these ranch-y projects, saying, “But I think if you’re trying to get there so fast that you don’t understand the people, or it’s not complicated, then it’s a problem.”

What he means to say is that, to make a Western project good, the emphasis shouldn’t only be on the guns and hats but also on the people and acting, putting both forward in the perfect proportion. Needless to say, this sounds like truly worthy criteria, considering how this must have gone into his picking and delivering immaculately in Taylor Sheridan‘s saga as well.

Kevin Costner Confesses Why He Keeps Returning to Westerns

During the same interview, Costner also went on to reveal that the reason why the Western genre sees him making so many appearances is because it’s a bit too interesting for him to capture its elements. Per the actor’s confession, he’s intrigued by capturing “the authenticity of what it took to come across the ocean to move west where there was no law, there was no protection.”

He continued, “To drag your wife and your children and put them in imminent danger — people thirsted to have something of their own.” While that’s that, he also pointed out that Yellowstone seeks to flawlessly infuse its storytelling with humanity and nuance, the way a good Western project should.

He said: “Most Westerns aren’t very good because they reduce themselves to the black hat and the white hat,” he says. “But when they’re done well, you are kind of haunted by how you can measure yourself to wonder, Were you tough enough to make it? You were forced into decisions every day in the West which were kind of, ‘Wow.’”

With that being said, it does sound rather confusing why Kevin Costner would decide to leave a project as good as Sheridan’s midway, without even staying to give off a meaningful conclusion to it. But, then again, he had to work on his own Horizon saga as well, so we might as well cut him some slack for it (it’s a different matter that Horizon failed to fare well for reasons that seem confusing after acknowledging his perfect criteria for a good Western).