What Kevin Costner and His ‘Yellowstone’ Costars Said About the Final Season Drama: Bombshell Quotes

March 2024

In the height of the Yellowstone cast drama, it was believed that the series would officially end after the season 5 finale. Also, a source exclusively told Life & Style that the cast cut Kevin “loose.”

“He used to hear from Cole and the rest of the gang — but they’ve cut him loose in the months since he walked away from the show,” the source said.

Luke Grimes — April 2024

Luke Grimes, who plays Kayce Dutton, discussed his onscreen dad’s exit.

“Whatever happened there is unfortunate if it’s changed anything about how the show is going to unfold,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “I know, [Costner] got busy with his movies that were, like, passion projects [the newly announced Horizon: An American Saga for one]. At a certain point, you gotta do what you gotta do, man; you gotta do what you love.”

May 2024

Kevin broke his silence on the drama and shared his side of the feud during an interview with Deadline.

“I haven’t felt good about it the last year, what with the way they’ve talked about it. It wasn’t truthful,” he told the publication. “So now I’m talking about 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. Horizon was set in the middle, but Yellowstone was first position. I fit [Horizon] into the gaps. They just kept moving their gaps.”

June 2024

While a possibility for the show’s future was on the horizon, Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly, a.k.a. Rip Wheeler and Beth Dutton, volunteered to be the new faces of Yellowstone.

“Cole and Kelly believe audiences would flock to a new show starring their characters,” a source exclusively told Life & Style at the time. “They were making more money than they’d ever seen in their lives. They’ve grown accustomed to the big bucks!”

Wes Bentley – November 2024

Wes Bentley, who plays Jamie Dutton, may butt heads with Kevin on the show, but he had nothing but kind things to say about his fictional dad.

“He’s such a big part of this show. I feel so lucky to have been able to work with him,” Wes told The New York Post. “And I learned a lot from him as an actor. But he’s also a storyteller, a director, and he’s also a really interesting guy who knows a lot about history. We had a lot of great talks. So, I’m just grateful that I ever got to work with him.”

Kelly Reilly – November 2024

“There were moments where we would all just look around and just appreciate the moment, the beautiful day or the situation that just happened … you would go, ‘Well, this might be the last time we get to do this.’ So there was a savoring,” Kelly told People at the time. “Certainly for me, and I really felt this with a lot of the cast members of wanting to lay it all out there this year.”