Paramount+ announced that production has finally gotten underway on Season 5 of the hit series “Yellowstone” — on the same day that Kevin Costner revealed he offered to kill off his character.
On Monday, the network announced that filming for the second half of the Taylor Sheridan-created final season had begun in Montana after more than a year hiatus, the Hollywood Reporter reported.
The announcement came the same day a Costner interview dropped in which he talked about the end of the series and revealed whether he would be part of the last half of Season 5.
Speaking to GQ, the 69-year-old actor talked about his western movie “Horizon: An American Saga” and said “I loved that show [Yellowstone] and I went and helped [at Cannes Film Festival years ago]. And Taylor [Sheridan] had a really great take on what this was. But I went over there. I’ve helped that show in a hundred different ways.”
After over a year hiatus, Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 began production in Montana in May 2024, as projected and then revealed by Paramount Network. https://t.co/1cJahewRBD
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) May 21, 2024
Costner recently said that a scheduling conflict had nothing to do with his departure from the series amid reports that blamed him for halting production on the second half of the season due to filming for his western movie, followed by the writers’ and actors’ strikes, as previously reported.
“They still haven’t shot it. As far as I know,” the actor said. “The scripts never came. And so then, at one point, they said to me that we don’t have an ending or anything.”
Costner said he offered options for killing off his character so he could make both work, saying, “‘Well, if you want to kill me, if you want to do something like that,’ I said, ‘I have a week before I start. I’ll do what you want to do.’”
The “Dances with Wolves” star said despite everything that has happened he would be open to returning to the series, Deadline noted.
“If the writing’s there and I’m happy with it, I’m open to that. But I took a beating over these guys not speaking up for me and allowing crazy stories to come out,” Costner said.
“I’m not happy about that. But if the writing is there, I will be there too,” he added. “It’s just that simple: Paramount and 101 Studios mismanaged this.”
Paramount released a statement to Fox News about Costner’s GQ comments and said that “Kevin has been a big part of ‘Yellowstone’s’ success.”
“While we had hoped that we would continue working with him, unfortunately, we could not find a window that worked for him, all the other talent, and our production needs in order to move forward together,” the statement read. “We respect that Kevin has prioritized his new film series and we wish him the best.”
It is unclear how many episodes the final series will have, with Sheridan previously telling THR, “If I think it takes 10 episodes to wrap it up, they’ll give me 10. It’ll be as long as it needs to be.” The highly-anticipated end of the series is expected to come out in November.
Related: Kevin Costner Now Says Schedule Had Nothing To Do With His Departure From ‘Yellowstone’
