Kevin Costner’s Departure from ‘Yellowstone’. The 68-year-old actor has faced some creative issues with the show.
Also, he explained these points in a child support case involving his ex-wife Christine Baumgartner’s ongoing divorce in Santa Barbara, Calif.
Costner announced that he was going to leave the Paramount Network series due to heated negotiations about splitting Season 5 into two parts.
He also explained that filming Yellowstone twice a year clashed with his commitment to focus on other work, the four-part TV series Horizon, An American Saga. Costner even changed his schedule for filming the first episode of Season 5, which was a turning point for him.
On the other hand, the first half of Season 5 was still unfinished, and there was no script for the second half. He was supposed to be paid $12 million per episode of Season 5, but they tried the “pay or play” approach, and it didn’t work.
Costner expressed a desire to return to Yellowstone for a sixth season but said, “I couldn’t help them now. We tried to talk it out and they offered less money than in the past, and there were creative issues as well.
Before the final decision was made, he made a final attempt to return to the show and even suggested a specific amount to his agents. But Yellowstone chose to stay away from negotiations.
On the stand, he said he thought the amount was $12 million. He also expressed his disappointment that he wasn’t part of the show despite it being a leading show on TV. When asked if he would be paid for the second episode of Yellowstone Season 5, he said, “I might go to court over it.”