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Kevin Costner isn’t shaking in his boots about the backlash over his “Yellowstone” character being killed off.
The 69-year-old actor played John Dutton on the Paramount Network show, last appearing in part one of Season 5 in 2022. Costner announced he would not return to “Yellowstone” in June amid rumors of a feud with creator Taylor Sheridan.
The ranch drama returned earlier this month for the second half of the season and killed off his character, much to the dismay of fans.
A hit man fatally shot John, and it was made to look like a suicide. Fans later find out that the girlfriend of his son Jamie (Wes Bentley) orchestrated his murder plot.
Costner addressed the outrage surrounding Dutton’s death at the 2024 Governors Awards in Los Angeles on Nov. 17 after fans slammed Sheridan while claiming the character deserved a better send-off.
“Fans have a voice in things,” the Oscar winner told E! News, “and they choose to follow stuff.”
Costner shared that it was up to the producers to decide what to do with Dutton after the star revealed he wouldn’t be back for part two of the series due to scheduling issues with his four-part movie anthology “Horizon: An American Saga.”
“I suggested a while back how to do it,” Costner told the outlet regarding his character’s departure; however, he wouldn’t share what those ideas were.
“Who am I? They do what they want. That’s fine with me,” the star joked.
Coster weighed in on Dutton’s death on Nov. 11, just hours after the episode aired.
Appearing on SiriusXM’s “The Michael Smerconish Program,” he shared that he “didn’t know it was actually airing last night.”
“That’s a swear-to-God moment. I swear to God,” he explained. “I mean, I’ve been seeing ads with my face all over the place and I’m thinking, ‘Gee, I’m not in that one.’ I’m not in this season. But I didn’t realize yesterday was the thing. Somebody said, ‘It played last night?’ And I said, ‘Hmm, okay.’ So no, I found out about it this morning actually.”
When asked how he felt about John’s death, Costner said, “I didn’t see it. I heard it’s a suicide. That doesn’t make me wanna rush to go see it.”
Costner also addressed his exit from the show and the rumors he quit “Yellowstone” for his new Western film series, “Horizon.”
“I didn’t really have to leave anything behind. There were the gaps that were there,” he shared. “There was contractual things that would allow for both things to be done, but because both things were contractual, you had to make room for the other thing. There was room, but it was difficult for them to keep their schedule. It was just too difficult for them to do it.”
He added, “There was the time there, what happened, you can deal with it. But I didn’t leave. I didn’t quit the show. OK? I had made a contract to do all three. There was a contract in place to do all three. And within about an eight-month period, two more different kind of contracts were being negotiated. Not at my request, but at their request to try to do things.”
Part two of Season 5 is rumored to be the final for the series. However, there is speculation that a Season 6 about Beth and Rip could be in the works, with one of the show’s stars hinting to The Post exclusively that Season 5 might not be the last.
There is also several “Yellowstone” spinoffs in the works, including an upcoming one called “The Madison” starring Michelle Pfeiffer.
“Yellowstone” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on Paramount Network.
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