How Luke Grimes Really Feels About Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone Exit

In the current television landscape, “Yellowstone” is king. Above “House of the Dragon” and other big, flashier shows, it is Taylor Sheridan’s Western series that stands as the most popular show on cable right now. Even so, all good things must come to an end. The second half of the show’s fifth season is due to air later this year and it very well may be the show’s swan song. That’s largely because Kevin Costner, who has led the way as John Dutton since the beginning, has departed the show. How does the rest of the cast feel about that? Luke Grimes at least seems to be pretty even-tempered regarding Costner’s exit.

In an interview earlier this year with The Hollywood Reporter, Grimes was asked about Costner’s messy departure from “Yellowstone.” Grimes, who plays Kayce Dutton on the series, seemed sympathetic to Costner’s reasons for leaving, taking a diplomatic approach to what went down.

“Whatever happened there is unfortunate if it’s changed anything about how the show was going to unfold. I know, [Costner] got busy with his movies that were like passion projects. At a certain point, you gotta do what you gotta do, man; you gotta do what you love.”

The passion project in question was “Horizon: An American Saga,” which was planned as a four-film epic that Costner is directing and starring in. “Chapter 1” hit theaters earlier this year and flat-out bombed at the box office. Critics were also pretty unkind to the sprawling three-hour first installment. Warner Bros., in turn, pulled “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2” from its release schedule. It remains without a release date. Put plainly, that passion project isn’t going so well in the early going.

Nobody can predict the future. What we know for sure is that “Yellowstone” now needs to find a way to bring things to a close without Costner. That’s no small task. Be that as it may, in a more recent interview with Newsweek, Grimes further addressed the situation and, offering assurance to viewers, expressed his feeling that the ending will work for everyone.

“I just feel like it would be unfair of me to kind of talk about any of that because, you know, [the show] was seven years long and there’s so many things that happened that I know about and so many things that happen that I don’t know about. I don’t have the bird’s eye view of that whole situation, you know? All I know is what happened, happened, and the show rolled with the punches. We were able to finish the show and finish it in a way that I think is really gonna work for everybody, even in the midst of all that.”

The second part of the show’s fifth season has been delayed for more than a year due to both Costner’s exit and last year’s Hollywood strikes. For any fans who want to catch up, “Yellowstone” is currently streaming on Peacock. Or, for those who don’t want to subscribe to Peacock, “Yellowstone” season 5, part 1 is available on Blu-ray or DVD on Amazon.

For the record, there is a chance that “Yellowstone” season 6 could happen, with Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser returning to headline the reworked show. Either way, Sheridan and Paramount have several other spin-offs still in the works, including a second season of “1923” and a new show called “The Madison” to keep the franchise alive. Whatever happens, it’s all going to happen without Costner, it seems.

“Yellowstone” season 5 returns in November on Paramount Network.