Kevin Costner offers high praise for Yellowstone, despite having left the show. Created by prolific Western genre creator Taylor Sheridan, Yellowstone starred Costner in the main role of John Dutton until the actor announced his departure from the series. Continuing without Costner, Yellowstone returns for season 5, part 2 in November of this year. Yellowstone season 5, part 2 will see the return of many cast members, including Kelly Reilly, Luke Grimes, Wes Bentley, and Cole Hauser.

Speaking on the Armchair Expert podcast (via Collider), Costner reflects on the reasons why he took on Yellowstone originally. Upon reading the show’s initial script, the actor “just believed in the world.” He went on to praise Sheridan specifically, saying that he “has a great ear” and “wrote that stuff really authentically” for the show. Costner then sought to do Yellowstone “the best [he] could possibly do it.” Check out the full quote from Costner below:

Yellowstone was just a really great script. I just believed in the world, I knew it was a soap opera. I knew we should all be in jail. We’ve all killed people there, and so you throw logic out the window, right, a little bit.

[Taylor Sheridan] has a great ear, and he just wrote that stuff really authentically, and it was good fun. And he wrote my part especially well and Kelly [Reilly]’s part. So listen, I had a lot of fun with it. It was really good, I recognized that, so I did it the best I could possibly do it.

Kevin Costner’s Departure from Yellowstone (And Whether He Will Return) Explained

Though this quote shows that Costner has a love for Yellowstone, this admiration was not enough to keep him on the project. When Yellowstone was attempting to shoot the latter half of season 5, Costner attempted to negotiate down his number of filming days to an unreasonably low number to give room for him to pursue another project, the Horizon movies. These films are Costner’s passion project, and he decided to abandon his tenure on Yellowstone in favor of the other project.

Since leaving Yellowstone, Costner has been open about his desire to return to Yellowstone. Back in April, the John Dutton actor said he would like to return to Yellowstone, but he and the team have not been able to make it work yet. This implied that the actor was open to returning, despite the contract disputes that reportedly caused tension on the set of Yellowstone. With Yellowstone season 5, part 2 arriving relatively soon, it seems unlikely that John Dutton will return for the fifth season, but Costner’s enthusiasm makes it more popular.

The actor’s most recent comments about Yellowstone are another positive sign that he could return in future iterations of the series. Several of the main actors from the series are reportedly returning for the Yellowstone spinoff sequel series 2024, ostensibly giving the series more seasons. This expansion brings the opportunity for Costner to return to the series, especially given the actor’s continued positive opinion towards Yellowstone.

Source: Armchair Expert (via Collider)