Sam Amico
Will John Dutton ever return to run the ranch?
Videos by Rare
That remains the question after court documents revealed Kevin Costner, who portrays Dutton on the Paramount smash Yellowstone, said he’s no longer under contract.
Costner, of course, is undergoing an ugly divorce with wife Christine Baumgartner.
“I will earn substantially less in 2023 than I did in 2022. This is because I am no longer under contract for Yellowstone, the principal source of my income last year,” Costner stated in documents related to divorce proceedings, via Outkick.
Already, Costner and Yellowstone have had a rocky year, which began with reports that Costner and series creator Taylor Sheridan have been at odds, leading to the end of the show. It’s currently in the middle of the fifth and final season, with the last episodes scheduled for November.
That is, if we haven’t already seen the last episodes.
Reports also suggested that all the drama with Costner is making it difficult for Sheridan to write the final episodes. Friction can do that.
Eventually, Sheridan is expected to come up with a Yellowstone spinoff, starring Matthew McConaughey. For now, though, Costner’s Dutton has been the central character.
Will he be in the spinoff?
Granted, this could be much ado about nothing, as Costner will only be under contract for part of 2023, given that the show is ending — and perhaps that’s what he meant in documents. But for fans of the wildly popular series, it’s just another reason to wonder how — or if — this instant classic will end.
