“It truncates the closure of his character. It doesn’t alter it, but it truncates it,” Sheridan says of Costner’s John Dutton in his first interview since Yellowstone turned on its head.
There’s a lot to process in The Hollywood Reporter‘s cover story on the television mogul. Ever since Paramount confirmed they would be ending Yellowstone with Season 5 – and that the Kevin Costner exit rumors were not only true but the reason the show’s wrapping up early – the world’s had one eye on Costner and the other on Taylor Sheridan.
The real life cowboy has been busy. He’s got a dozen shows in the works. He’s closed on the largest ranch in America (the very real 6666 down in his native Texas). But the current writer’s strike has, it would seem, given the prolific creator time to sit down, reflect, and tell his side of the story.
‘He and the network were arguing about when he could be done with ‘Yellowstone’
“My last conversation with Kevin was that he had this passion project he wanted to direct. He and the network were arguing about when he could be done with Yellowstone,” Sheridan tells THR‘s James Hibberd.
“I said, ‘We can certainly work a schedule toward [his preferred exit date],’ which we did,” the series architect notes.
That passion project is Costner’s HORIZON, his own four-part Western epic that’s been gestating for over three decades. And now is apparently the time for the John Dutton star to make it all happen. He’s directing, starring, and co-writing, and has wrapped the first film of his series. Soon, he’ll wrap the second. Meanwhile, Yellowstone fans are shaking their heads; baffled.
Still, “My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered,” Sheridan continues. “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.”
But once “lawyers get involved,” Sheridan says, “then people don’t get to talk to each other and start saying things that aren’t true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting.”
Sheridan also believes Costner “took lot of this on the chin and I don’t know that anyone deserves it.” Regardless, the real losers here are fans and audiences, sadly.
‘I sure hope [the movie is] worth it – and that it’s a good one… I’m disappointed.’
Sheridan seems poised in the interview, but not careful. He speaks forthright and, as per usual, says what we can only assume is on his mind; a quality made famous by his most popular creation, Beth Dutton. But when it comes to the actor behind her father:
“His movie seems to be a great priority to him and he wants to shift focus. I sure hope [the movie is] worth it — and that it’s a good one,” Sheridan quips.
As for the Yellowstone shepherd himself? “I’m disappointed,” Sheridan adds. “It truncates the closure of his character. It doesn’t alter it, but it truncates it.”
Sheridan clearly has an end in mind both for the patriarch and Yellowstone; something his actors and production cohorts have been confirming for years; though no one seems to have been told the formula. Not even Costner.
“I never had that conversation with Kevin,” Sheridan reveals. The two men, as opposite sides of the John Dutton coin, have had previous confrontations on the icon’s fate, however.
Kevin Costner initially took issue with ‘Yellowstone’s murder all the way back in Season 2
“There was a time in season two when he was very upset and said the character wasn’t going in the direction he wanted. I said, ‘Kevin, you do remember that I told you this is essentially The Godfather on the largest ranch in Montana? Are you that surprised that the Godfather is killing people?’” Sheridan tells THR.
Instead, “What he’s clung to is [Dutton’s] commitments to his family and way of life. Dutton’s big failing is not evolving with the times,” he continues of his lead character. “Kevin felt season two was deviating from that, and I don’t know that he was wrong.”
So by Yellowstone Season 3, “we steered back into it,” Sheridan says. “And I recall him winning a Golden Globe last year for his performance. So I think it’s working.”
As for how this all came to a head, Sheridan isn’t shouldering any of the blame. In his mind, anyway.
“I didn’t do anything to begin with!” he declares outright. “I don’t dictate the schedule.”
Sheridan also doesn’t, by his words, “determine when things start filming. I don’t determine when things air. Those decisions are made by people way above me. My sphere of control is the content — that’s it.”
‘No production of mine has ever waited on me’
And those rumors concerning Yellowstone Season 5 and Kevin Costner not being able to meet in the middle because Sheridan had no scripts ready? “No production of mine has ever waited on me,” he adds point-blank.
“Believe me, I begged [for more time] with 1883. I begged with 1923. Begged. Nope, ‘Airdate locked; for what we pay you, figure it out.’ And I don’t stand in a corner and go, ‘I’m not going to do it.’”
The Hollywood Reporter has much, much more from Sheridan on the entire franchise in their full interview, and Outsider will be back with more as we dissect their wild insight.