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“Yellowstone” star Kevin Costner is threatening to sue the show’s producers for money he says he still owes from the show. The actor spoke publicly for the first time about his dispute with the hit Paramount Network series on the witness stand in a Santa Barbara courtroom on Friday.
Costner discussed the “Yellowstone” acrimony during a child support hearing that was part of his divorce proceedings from his wife Christine Baumgartner. As People magazine and other media outlets at the hearings reported, Costner — whose impending exit from “Yellowstone” was reported back in February — expressed frustration at not being able to continue with the series.
It was suggested at the time that Costner might be opting out of the series (in which he has played the role of John Dutton since its launch in 2018) due to his filming schedule, with Costner being available for fewer days as the series progresses. But on Friday, Costner noted that he had “changed” his schedule for filming the first part of the fifth season of “Yellowstone,” forcing him to shift focus from his own four-part film series, which began with “Horizon: An American Saga.” “begins. ”
But since the second part of season five was not scripted and there was a pay or play clause, Costner should still have received $12 million for the second half of season five (the same as he did for the first half). According to People, when Costner was asked if he would receive his salary for the second half of Season 5, he said, “I’ll probably go to court.” It was the Season 5 breakup, he said, calling it a “long one “, hard-fought negotiation” that led to his exit.
As to whether he would have returned for a sixth season, Costner added: “I’m told it’s a little disappointing [it’s] “I’m not doing the number one show on television,” People said.
“I couldn’t help them anymore. We tried to negotiate, they offered me less money than in previous seasons, there were problems with creativity,” he said. When he finally suggested that he should return $12 million in his opinion, Costner declined, according to “Yellowstone” — which is produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Global’s 101 Studios and has Taylor Sheridan serving as an executive producer. (As Variety reported in 2022, Costner had become one of the highest-paid actors in episodic television.)
Variety reached out to MTV Entertainment Studios and Costner’s lawyers, but all either declined to comment or did not return requests for comment.
In May, Paramount announced that “Yellowstone” was officially coming to an end and that the final episodes would be released in November. (Of course, that timing is no longer possible due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.) The company also announced that an untitled sequel series had been ordered, which would debut on Paramount Network and later Paramount+. (Again, the timing for this was supposed to be December, but it’s TBD now.) Matthew McConaughey was expected to star in a new show that would feature several characters from “Yellowstone.”
“’Yellowstone’ was the foundation upon which we launched a universe of global hits – from ‘1883’ to ‘Tulsa King’, and I am confident that our ‘Yellowstone’ sequel will be another great one thanks to the brilliant creativity “I think of Taylor Sheridan and our incredible cast who bring these shows to life,” Chris McCarthy, president and CEO of Showtime and MTV Entertainment Studios, said at the time.