Fans of Paramount’s Yellowstone have been eagerly awaiting the release of the second half of Season 5 for what feels like forever, but it looks like they’ll have to wait longer still. The season premiered in November of last year and had a mid-season finale on January 1st that left fans breathlessly excited for the rest of Season 5. But there are persistent rumors that Kevin Costner has been unwilling to work for more than one week on Yellowstone, and these rumors seem connected to the fact that Paramount still doesn’t have a specific release date for the second half of the season.
If you’re new to the Kevin Costner Yellowstone drama, you might be surprised by how much the offscreen drama is threatening to eclipse the onscreen drama. Costner’s lawyer has fired back at the rumors that the star is unwilling to spend more than a week on set as a lie that nobody should believe. At the same time, Paramount has been unable to give a firm release date for the second half of Season 5 (which is odd because it was originally supposed to start filming in March and then drop sometime this summer), and the network’s only real comment regarding the Costner drama is that they hope the actor will be part of the show for a long time.
Part of what is fueling the Kevin Costner Yellowstone rumors are the potentially related rumors about the current show ending and spinning off into something new. Previous spinoffs have been headlined by other big names, such as Harrison Ford, and there was a report last month that the current show will end after this season and will be replaced by a new series that brings over many of the current stars but effectively replaces Kevin Costner with Matthew McConaughey. While Paramount has been understandably tight-lipped about the matter, this course of action could help them sidestep Costner’s alleged shenanigans altogether and move on with the franchise.
If that ends up being true, it could be the best possible decision for both Kevin Costner as an actor and Yellowstone as a show. Right now, Costner is busy working with Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema to shoot a four-part feature Western named Horizon. Many have assumed that this project is keeping Costner away from the Yellowstone set, so spinning the series off yet again and bringing in Matthew McConaughey would let Costner focus on his passion project while ensuring that fans aren’t held hostage by the alleged whims of this major Hollywood actor.
Unfortunately, when it comes to Kevin Costner and Yellowstone, we can’t exactly say that no news is good news. Every week that goes by without any definitive statements from Costner or Paramount is a week that fans spend wondering when they’ll finally be able to see the second half of a killer fifth season. At this rate, we’re worried that climate change will have the world looking like Costner’s dystopian film Waterworld by the time the second half of Season 5 finally drops.