Kevin Costner Makes Major Demand Before Returning to 'Yellowstone'
Kevin Costner is saddled with bad press. The latest? Puck News claims that the 68-year-old Yellowstone actor is refusing to report to work unless he gets to sign off on how his character, John Dutton, is written off the show. Apparently he wants to prevent creator Taylor Sheridan from pulling a Shonda Rhimes and offing him in an unsavory manner. "So Sheridan may not be able to dispose of his Western-loving leading man via a kick from an angry horse," Puck reports.
Related: A Guide to Taylor Sheridan's Ever-Expanding Universe
It seems unlikely that Costner would have any sort of power over Sheridan's scripts given that the latter is a titan of TV, but if we were to offer the actor some unsolicited advice, we'd point out that a tragic ending isn't always a bad thing for a character. Everyone remembers how McDreamy got written off of Grey's Anatomy, for example—but no one can tell you where in the world Cristina Yang went.
Related: How Every Character Got Written Off Grey's Anatomy
Puck also reports that the tension between Costner and network executives grew higher than ever after Paramount announced that Yellowstone would come to an end after Season 5 without giving Costner so much as a warning shot. The show will start airing the back half of its fifth and final season in November, and a spinoff—likely starring Matthew McConaughey—will premiere the following month.