‘Yellowstone’ Creator Taylor Sheridan Says He’s ‘Disappointed’ by Kevin Costner’s Exit

usmagazine.com:

Yellowstone boss Taylor Sheridan finally broke his silence on the rumored feud between him and Kevin Costner — and the writer claims they’re on good terms.According to Sheridan, 53, Costner, 68, was ready to wrap up his time as John Dutton because he wanted to work on his upcoming western epic, Horizon. “My last conversation with Kevin was that he had this passion project he wanted to direct,” Sheridan explained in a cover interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Wednesday, June 21. “He and the network were arguing about when he could be done with Yellowstone.

I said, ‘We can certainly work a schedule toward [his preferred exit date],’ which we did.”Paramount Network officially announced in May that Yellowstone will end with its fifth season, the first half of which concluded in January.

The second batch of episodes was originally set to premiere this summer, but the network now says they’ll start airing in November.

The news came after months of speculation about a rift between Sheridan and Costner, who reportedly wanted out of the series.“My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered,” Sheridan told THR of the alleged drama. “His creation of John Dutton is symbolic and powerful … and I’ve never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn’t work out on the phone.”Sheridan also explicitly denied a report that he told Costner to “stick to acting,” which allegedly was one of the reasons Costner decided to exit Yellowstone. “I never had that conversation with Kevin,” Sheridan said. “There was a time in season 2 when he was very upset and said the character wasn’t going in the direction he wanted. … Kevin felt season 2 was deviating from that, and I don’t know that he was wrong.