Kevin Costner was “disappointed” by rumors about his exit from Yellowstone

Kevin Costner

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Kevin Costner spoke out this week against rumors that his alleged exit from Yellowstone was the result of a tension with his ego behind the scenes.

“I loved the show,” said Costner People“I liked the people on the show. I liked what it was about. I love that world.”

Costner played protagonist John Dutton in Taylor Sheridan’s Paramount drama and played the role for five seasons before rumors of him leaving the series began to make headlines. Many claimed that the Oscar winner had staged a step back to make room for his Horizon: An American Sagawhose first chapter was released last month at the Cannes Film Festival. Plans for the future of Yellowstone have yet to be announced.

“When Taylor (Sheridan) first pitched the project to me, it was a season and a long movie, so it was exactly my language… but I think the studio ultimately didn’t want that,” Costner said of the original assignment. “And because he’s such a prolific writer, he said, ‘I can do that. I can make a series that goes on.'”

Costner said he was “ready” to accept the extension, telling Sheridan, “I’m doing it for three seasons… and I ended up doing it for five.” He added that he was willing to continue beyond the fifth season, but no one could give a timeline for production.

“There was a moment where the show was on hiatus for me for 14 months,” he said. “That’s the fact. I could have done a lot of things in that time, but I didn’t know that (delay) was going to happen.”

When rumors began to swirl that he was leaving because of his ego, Costner said he was “disappointed” that no one defended him. “I read all the stories,” he said. “I was disappointed that no one on their side… ever stepped up to defend what I actually did for them. There came a moment where I thought, ‘Wow, when is somebody going to say something about what I have done compared to what I not Completed?'”

Despite the drama, the actor still has a lot of good things to say about Sheridan’s Yellowstone Universe.

“I liked the writing style and I really, really liked what Taylor was doing,” he said. “He understood the world of modern ranching and was able to create all this different kind of drama in it, but in an effective way.”

He even said that if the script comes across right, he hasn’t written off coming back for more. “I’ve always felt that … it could be an interesting moment to come back and complete the mythology of this modern family,” he said. “And if that happens, I would jump in if I was OK with how it was done.”