Kevin Costner Had A Brutal Response To The Yellowstone Season 5 Finale

Paramount

After five buzzy, immensely popular seasons of television, Taylor Sheridan's "Yellowstone" has finally galloped off into the sunset. Fans know this is far from the end of the franchise, though; the prequel series "1923," starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, will return for its second and final season in February 2025, while the spinoffs "1944," "The Madison" (with Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Fox), an untitled continuation of the Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser) storyline, and probably "6666" are en route. "Yellowstone," for better or worse, is going nowhere.

One person who's unlikely to ever set foot on the ranch again is Kevin Costner, the star whose John Dutton III was the driving force of the original series. Costner and Sheridan's happy creative marriage hit the rocks hard when the duo couldn't work out how the former would be able to shoot his Western movie epic "Horizon: An American Saga" while fulfilling his obligations to "Yellowstone." This ended in Costner quitting the show, which resulted in Sheridan writing him out by having a pack of assassins knock John off.

In the immediate aftermath of the episode featuring Dutton's demise (which first appeared to be a suicide), Costner told radio host Michael Smerconish that he didn't watch it. "I heard it's a suicide," he said, "So that doesn't make me want to rush to go see it." Still, fans couldn't help but wonder if the star caught up with the mini-season and checked out the finale. Thanks to the Daily Mail, they finally have their answer.

Paramount

If you were hoping that Costner had softened his stance toward Sheridan and the "Yellowstone" franchise, you can absolutely forget about it. "I'm not thinking about [the finale]," said Costner. "I don't think I've given it any thoughts, we'll just let it go."

This sounds an awful lot like the classic dril meme, "I'm not mad. Please don't put in the newspaper that I got mad." Costner has a reputation for being prickly in interviews, and he has added reason to be cheesed off because the finished second part of "Horizon: An American Saga" got yanked from New Line's release schedule when the first movie, partially financed by the star, grossed a mere $38.2 million on a $50 million budget (after receiving mostly negative reviews). There's still no word on when "Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 2" will hit theaters, and what will happen with the promised third and fourth chapters of the epic.

As such, it's understandable that Costner would look at Sheridan's rapidly expanding "Yellowstone" universe and feel a tad raw about it. Then again, he's making cinema, and he's got Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for "Dances with Wolves" to back up his mastery of the craft. It's been a less-than-ideal creative process, but we're pulling for Costner.

"Yellowstone" is currently streaming on Peacock.