Luke Grimes Weighs in on Kevin Costner’s ‘Yellowstone’ Exit

Country singer Luke Grimes weighed in on Kevin Costner’s controversial exit from Yellowstone in a new interview with The Independent. Grimes plays Kayce Dutton, the son of Costner’s John Dutton III, on Taylor Sheridan’s hit series.

“Whatever happened there is unfortunate if it’s changed anything about how the show was going to unfold,” Grimes told the outlet.

He went on to explain that Costner’s commitment to his four-part Civil War epic Horizon: An American Saga may have affected his commitment to Yellowstone.

“I know [Costner] got busy with his movies that were like passion projects,” Grimes explained. “At a certain point, you gotta do what you gotta do, man; you gotta do what you love.”

Costner starred as Dutton for five seasons, but his return to the sixth and final season has been in question. Reports alternately attribute the actor’s hesitancy to salary disagreements, or creative differences between himself and Sheridan over how Dutton’s arc should end.

While at Cinema Con promoting the first two installments of Horizon, set to hit cinemas this summer, Costner broke his silence regarding his return to Yellowstone.

“I’d like to be able to do it but we haven’t been able to,” Costner said of the final season. “I thought I was going to make seven [seasons], but right now we’re at five. So how it works out—I hope it does—but they’ve got a lot of different shows going on,” the actor continued.

“Maybe it will [happen]. Maybe this will circle back to me,” Costner said. “If it does, and I feel really comfortable with [it], I’d love to do it.”

The sixth and final season of Yellowstone is currently set to premiere in November.