Kevin Costner has revealed he would definitely reprise his role as rancher John Dutton III in the hit television series Yellowstone, but only if it was ‘under the right circumstances.’
The 69-year-old actor, who recently claimed he had ‘taken a beating’ from the producers of Yellowstone, told Today host Savannah Guthrie that he still ‘loves’ the neo-western drama and said the show has been ‘really important’ to him.
Commenting on the recent ‘back and forth,’ Guthrie, 52, asked Costner what had really happened in regard to his controversial exit, to which he replied: ‘Number one, I did it for five years, okay, and I want to work more than once a year and we lost an entire year at one point and I thought, “Well that can’t ever happen again,” it was well over a year.
‘And I said, “Well I just have to be in position to make the things,” and really it’s just huge, there is a chance to do both of them but material has to be ready at certain times and we weren’t able to do that and after five years, I thought, “I’m just not going to do this,” and if we can get that, we can do that, then I will do it.’
The father-of-five appeared to be referring to his other project, an upcoming film series called Horizon: An American Saga, which is a project Kevin has wanted to make for 36 years – and even mortgaged his own home in order to self-finance it.
Kevin Costner has revealed he would definitely be up for reprising his role as John Dutton III in the television series Yellowstone
The 69-year-old actor opened up about the much-loved neo-Western drama series during an appearance on Today
When Guthrie informed Costner that ‘people care’ about his role in Yellowstone, the actor replied: ‘Listen, who loves it more than myself and Taylor [Sheridan]? I took it over when no one had seen it and told people that I thought it was going to be pretty good.
‘I went and sat in front of 300 people in Europe and went to another place and said, “I think you’ll like this thing,” so I have supported that thing and I have loved it, it’s been really important to me.’
‘I would love to go back under the right circumstances. I think that all of us want, right? At this point, for me, it really needs to be the right circumstances,’ he admitted, before adding: ‘[I’m] saying there’s a chance, there’s always a chance. I love the thing, you know, you got to be really clear about that.’
Just last month, Costner attempted to set the record straight amid rumors of a feud between him and Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan.
Paramount claimed Costner refused to shoot more episodes, instead promoting his new film franchise, Horizon, while the actor asserts Paramount sought contract amendments due to Sheridan’s delayed scriptwriting.
‘There was no script,’ Costner told Deadline in May. ‘And then things imploded. You’ve been reading one version [of the show’s drama] for a year and a half.’
He added: ‘I have taken a beating from those f***ing guys and I know a lot of times where it’s coming from. I just elected not to get into that. But if you know me well enough, I made Yellowstone the first priority, and to insinuate anything else would be wrong.’
Costner, who revealed he has not filmed the remaining episodes of Season 5, also defended Sheridan, claiming, ‘I did not initiate any of those things. They did. They were doing a tap dance and this poor guy was also having to write so much. And I don’t know why they didn’t stick up for me.’
Kevin pictured in a scene from Yellowstone with his costar, Dabney Coleman
There has been rumors of a feud between the actor and Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan
Kevin told Today host Savannah Guthrie that he would return to the show but only ‘under the right circumstances’
After the first half of the fifth season of Yellowstone aired late last year, the show went on hiatus for the holidays.
Their return to filming, originally slated for the beginning of the year, was postponed to sometime this summer, with no announced premiere date.
Since Yellowstone went on hiatus, Costner has borne the brunt of the blame.
‘I didn’t have to answer the slings and arrows over the last year and a half, because I’ve just been busy working. They’ve been pretty slick about keeping their hands off; nobody was ever on the record,’ he said.
However, rumors claimed he only wanted to work for one week to film the rest of the episodes. Costner contends that Paramount deceived him.
‘I haven’t felt good about it the last year, what with the way they’ve talked about it,’ he told Deadline. ‘It wasn’t truthful.’
‘So now I’m talking a little bit about what the real truth of it was. I made a contract for seasons five, six and seven. In February, after a two- or three-month negotiation, they made another contract. They wanted to redo that one, and instead of seasons six and seven, it was 5A and 5B, and maybe we’ll do six. They weren’t able to make those.’