After rumors swirled around a possible Season 5 ending to the hit series “Yellowstone” due to scheduling conflicts with Kevin Costner, the star’s attorney has fired back, calling the claims “ridiculous.”
“The idea that Kevin was only willing to work one week on the second half of Season 5 of ‘Yellowstone’ is an absolute lie. It’s ridiculous — and anyone suggesting it shouldn’t be believed for one second,” lawyer Marty Singer told Puck News. “As everyone who knows anything about Kevin is well aware, he is incredibly passionate about the show and has always gone way above and beyond to ensure its success.”
It was originally reported that Costner had limited himself to 65 days of shooting for the first part of Season 5 of the series but that changed to 50. For the second batch of episodes in season five, that number was allegedly limited further to just a week, reportedly causing frustration with not just Sheridan but other cast members.
What’s crazy about the Costner situation is there was a path for him to ease off the show AND do his movies AND make $$. Sigh. Tons of new details here: https://t.co/5uVIuJPE2T
— Matthew Belloni (@MattBelloni) February 21, 2023
The issue, it seems, was more complicated as Season 5 was originally only planned to have 10 episodes, but it was expanded to 16 and arranged to be shot in two portions, according to Puck News. The first window of shooting hit a snag after Costner reportedly contracted COVID-19 after a promotional trip to the Calgary Stampede Rodeo, the outlet stated. Instead of extending the shooting days to make up for lost time, Costner allegedly declared his shooting time elapsed, forcing cast and crew to come back months later to shoot his scenes, Puck News stated. (RELATED: ‘It’s Always A Possibility’: Wes Bentley Hints At Kevin Costner’s Fate On ‘Yellowstone’)
Those delays and other issues allegedly caused the second half of Season 5 to be pushed back to 2023, with lawyer Howard Kaplan offering a week of dates for shooting in the summer and two days in October or November, according to Puck News.
Costner’s team denies all of that, stating that the whole of Season 5 was to be completed in 2022, but show co-creator Taylor Sheridan caused the delays by failing to deliver scripts on time and by regularly moving the shooting schedule, Puck News reported. As for the alleged delay caused by Costner’s COVID-19 diagnosis, his team contended that while those days counted towards the actor’s availability, he “performed exactly as his contract required.”
“As we previously stated, Kevin has been a key component of the success of our Yellowstone series, and we hope that continues from here on out,” a Paramount representative said of Singer’s comments, according to the outlet.