00:00Kevin Costner shocked Yellowstone fans earlier this year by deciding he wanted to quit the series.
00:05Now, show creator Taylor Sheridan is breaking his silence to The Hollywood Reporter about Yellowstone ending and Costner's exit.
00:12Sources say Costner is leaving to focus on his longtime passion project, a four-movie saga titled Horizon that he's co-writing, directing, and starring in.
00:21The actor requested to work fewer and fewer days on Yellowstone the last few seasons to focus on his movies, which frustrated producers.
00:28However, one source insists Costner kept waiting on scripts for season 5 and became frustrated that Sheridan was making several other projects instead.
00:36The source says Costner repeatedly blocked out time to shoot Yellowstone, only to see his dates pushed.
00:41Sheridan told THR,
00:43My last conversation with Kevin was that he had this passion project he wanted to direct.
00:47He and the network were arguing about when he could be done with Yellowstone.
00:51I said we can certainly work a schedule toward his preferred exit date, which we did.
00:54While Sheridan says his opinion of Costner as an actor hasn't changed, he is disappointed the star left the show the way he did.
01:01He said,
01:02It truncates the closure of his character.
01:04It doesn't alter it, but it truncates it.
01:06Whether Costner eventually returns to film more scenes to wrap his character is still being discussed.
01:11This was never my plan.
01:14My only plan was to preserve my family's way of life in the land where they make it.
01:20During the THR interview, Sheridan also promised Costner's character John Dutton's exit will be appropriate and respectful,
01:27not something like the TV trope of being killed in an off-screen car crash.
01:31And according to the showrunner, his original ending for Yellowstone is unchanged,
01:35as it's always had John Dutton departing the story before the final episodes.
01:39Sheridan also opened up about Matthew McConaughey being in late-stage negotiations for a Yellowstone follow-up.
01:45Sheridan said of the Oscar-winning actor,
01:46The showrunner hinted that the Yellowstone cast might not move on to the new show,
02:07as Sheridan envisions it as a standalone series in a new location exploring the same themes.
02:12For much more from THR's cover story interview with Taylor Sheridan, head to THR.com.
02:18This is the Hollywood Reporter News.
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