Kevin Costner Can Still Return For Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 (But It's Complicated)

It looks like Kevin Costner might be looking to get back into the "Yellowstone" game, despite months of legal wrangling between himself and the series' producers and show creator Taylor Sheridan. Puck reports that there might be a slim chance that Costner will return as John Dutton during the back half of Season 5, even though Sheridan already has a conclusion to the drama on tap and set to be filmed when he deems it fully satisfying, and it's one that definitely John free.

According to Puck, Costner's reps have been trying to negotiate with Paramount and Sheridan to bring back Costner so he can finish off Dutton's tale. But that might not be a tenable position as "Yellowstone" makes its way toward completion. Time will tell if the script gets reworked yet again and Costner ends up on the set over the spring and summer for the show's last hurrah. But it is worth noting that the lawsuit Costner vowed to press against Paramount to recoup $12 million in fees and lost wages during a hearing for his divorce in 2023 hasn't been filed yet.

Yet Paramount might have bigger fish to fry. Puck reports that Costner allegedly isn't the only cast member who might not appear in further "Yellowstone"-related productions.

On top of ongoing struggles with Kevin Costner, Puck reports that three famous "Yellowstone" faces — Cole Hauser (Rip Wheeler), Kelly Reilly (Beth Dutton), and Luke Grimes (Kayce Dutton) — may not be locks for the show's upcoming continuation, tentatively titled "2024." They report that things are getting nasty behind the scenes between the reps of all three stars and Paramount, who have been going back and forth about future salary terms while trying to get "Yellowstone" itself in the books. They report that Reilly and Hauser want pay increases to bump their salaries beyond a million dollars an episode. There's no word about how things might settle down, but all three stars are owed money for Season 6 due to legal clauses in their contracts, making things even stickier.

Legal sailing definitely hasn't been smooth between at least one of these stars and Taylor Sheridan. In 2023, Hauser and Sheridan got into an unsettled-as-of-press-time legal dust-up of their own over-brand confusion regarding their competing brands of coffee. While Sheridan's brand bears the official endorsement of the ranch behind "Yellowstone," he accuses Hauser's Free Rein brand of infringing on packaging trademarks and intentionally trying to confuse consumers into believing Free Rein is Paramount-endorsed. It's all been just one more dramatic drop in the bucket for the show's behind-the-scenes antics.