The upcoming final season of Yellowstone looks set to move forward without lead actor Kevin Costner – but it seems the actor is not yet ready to give up the role of rancher John Dutton completely.
Puck News claims Costner does apparently plan on appearing in the final season – however the prospect of that actually happening appears unlikely.
Costner, 69, allegedly departed the franchise last year amid reports of a feud with creator Taylor Sheridan, 53.
Costner has reportedly been ‘telling people’ he plans on returning ‘for at least a cameo and possibly more’.
Costner is apparently hoping to ‘leverage’ the desires of the Yellowstone fanbase, eager to see Dutton once more.
Could Kevin Costner make a shock cameo in the upcoming final season of Yellowstone – despite his reported departure from the franchise?
Costner, 69, allegedly departed the franchise last year amid a flurry of reports of a feud with creator Taylor Sheridan
‘Kevin Costner has been telling people he’s planning to return for at least a cameo and possibly more, but there are currently no discussions for him to do that,’ Matthew Belloni of Puck News reported.
‘Even if Costner significantly lowers his financial and time commitment demands, Sheridan may not want to bother reopening his finished scripts to accommodate a send-off for John Dutton. But the Yellowstone fans would certainly love it, which Costner knows and hopes to leverage, as he always does.’
Last year, during a profile of Sheridan, The Hollywood Reporter reported there were ‘ongoing discussions’ with Costner to film the final episodes of the show. However at the time, scripts had not yet been completed.
Entertainment Tonight reported last year Costner would be departing the series after its current fifth season amid his alleged rift with Sheridan.
Yellowstone will officially end with it’s current fifth season, however fans have been waiting for more than a year for the second half of season five to debut.
The first half of the season aired in late 2022 but the second half has yet to begin filming.
Recently, one of the show’s stars shared an update on when viewers can expect to see more of the exploits of the Dutton family, even as creator Taylor Sheridan moves on to other shows.
Ian Bohen, who started out as a recurring cast member at the start of the series before joining the main cast in season four, recently told Entertainment Tonight that Yellowstone may begin filming again in late spring or early summer.
If all goes according to plan, the Paramount Network series would be back on the air by autumn of this year.
Entertainment Tonight reported last year Costner would be departing the series after its current fifth season
‘We will go back, rumor has it in May,’ Bohen, 47, said at the Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscar Party in West Hollywood earlier this month.
He added that Yellowstone would likely be shooting ‘This summer and then we should be on in November, roughly.’
Bohen also clarified that the start dates weren’t set in stone, so ‘It could be June,’ he added.
The series would ‘shoot six episodes,’ before airing them beginning in ‘November maybe December.’
He even suggested that the hit series might scheduled its last episode ever for the biggest night of television of the year.
‘Then we go through the holidays and maybe season finale — series finale maybe on Super Bowl,’ the actor said.
Ian Bohen, who started out as a recurring cast member at the start of the series before joining the main cast in season four, recently told Entertainment Tonight that Yellowstone may begin filming again in late spring or early summer
Costner starred as rancher John Dutton on the series since 2018
Bohen added wistfully that it was the ‘end of an era.’
Paramount has already said that the show would return in November, and Bohen seems to confirm that goal, though the network has been more reticent about revealing when Yellowstone would go back into production.
Now that the series is ending, reportedly due to the departure of star Kevin Costner over scheduling conflicts and souring relations with Sheridan, Bohen remarked on how strange it feels to almost be done with his character.
‘It’s like going to college and grad school with the same people for six or eight years and you’re like, “We have to go? Then what are we gonna do next?”‘ Bohen continued. ‘It feels empty and weird so I’m gonna try to wring out every second of it.’
Despite the behind-the-scenes conflicts that have dogged the series, Bohen was optimistic that he and his costars would be on the same page once they were in front of the camera.
Sheridan and Costner pictured with Yellowstone co-star Kelly Reilly in 2018
‘The most important thing — and people come and go and there’s all kinds of stories that you may read about and hear — but this story of what this show is about is the most important,’ he said. ‘We’re all components and we all become madly in love with each other as actors and as people so we’ll finish that out in this beautiful glide to land.’
He added: ‘It’ll be great, so we just want to take advantage of the time more than anything.’
Bohen also clarified that he hasn’t seen any scripts for the final six episodes yet, but he was certain that fans would feel satisfied with the send off.
‘You’re gonna get the most satisfying, the best ending that the show could possibly have from the mind of our creator,’ Bohen declared. ‘Taylor [Sheridan] is going to be delivering to the audience, so it’ll be worth the wait, so we thank everybody for waiting.’
He has been with Yellowstone since its first season as the ranch hand Ryan, but Bohen was bumped up to the main cast beginning in season four.
Costner and co-star Luke Grimes on an episode of Yellowstone
The first half of the season aired in late 2022 but the second half has yet to begin filming
During the already aired first half of season five, his character began a romance with new face Abby (played by country singer Lainey Wilson).
Wilson, who previously weighed in on whether her character would make it out alive by the end of the show, has said she would do her best to shoot the final season of Yellowstone, even if she was on tour in the wake of her recent success at the Grammy Awards.
‘I will say this, I would be shocked if Lainey Wilson was not in this season,’ Bohen said, delighting fans of the on-screen couple.
‘There was some sort of something — a little bit of something — for her character and for my character. I believe that, I don’t know, but I believe that that will happen,’ he added.
Although Yellowstone is coming to an end, Paramount is reportedly moving forward with a sequel series that it hopes Matthew McConaughey will star in.
The network has been negotiating with the star for months to take over a similar role to the one Costner played and to give the new show equal star power.
However, McConaughey reportedly will not sign on until he has seen scripts that he approves of, and none have been provided to him as of February.
The producers are reportedly closer to signing Michelle Pfeiffer to join the new show in a female lead capacity, though her casting has not yet been confirmed and could still fall apart.
