Yellowstone star Luke Grimes on Kevin Costner’s exit: “You gotta do what you gotta do”

Luke Grimes has played Kayce Dutton on Yellowstone since the very beginning, but the main series will soon be coming to a premature end, largely thanks to the exit of Kevin Costner.

While speaking with The Independent, Grimes was asked about Costner leaving the series. “Whatever happened there is unfortunate if it’s changed anything about how the show was going to unfold,” Gimes said. “I know, [Costner] got busy with his movies that were like passion projects [the newly announced Horizon: An American Saga for one]. At a certain point, you gotta do what you gotta do, man; you gotta do what you love.“

Although Costner left Yellowstone behind, he has since expressed a willingness to return. “I’d like to be able to do it, but we haven’t been able to,” said Costner earlier this month. “I thought I was going to make seven [seasons], but right now we’re at five. So how it works out — I hope it does — but they’ve got a lot of different shows going on. Maybe it will. Maybe this will circle back to me. If it does and I feel really comfortable with [it], I’d love to do it.” With the scripts already written and production on the final set of episodes set to begin, it may be too late for the potential return of John Dutton.

The reason behind Costner’s exit in the first place came down to money and scheduling. The actor wanted to have enough time to shoot his Western epic, Horizon, but couldn’t come to an agreement with the network. Further reports stated he also wanted the right to review, approve, and potentially veto every Yellowstone script, which didn’t sit well with Sheridan. While the relationship between Sheridan and Costner might be strained due to all of this drama, fans would surely embrace the possibility of John Dutton returning, if only to properly wrap up his character.

Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan previously opened up about the unfortunate drama regarding Costner’s exit. “My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered. His creation of John Dutton is symbolic and powerful … and I’ve never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn’t work out on the phone,” Sheridan explained. “But once lawyers get involved, then people don’t get to talk to each other and start saying things that aren’t true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting. He took a lot of this on the chin and I don’t know that anyone deserves it. His movie seems to be a great priority to him and he wants to shift focus. I sure hope [the movie is] worth it — and that it’s a good one.“