Yellowstone Star Thinks Kevin Costner Controversy Is Overblown
Yellowstone star Wes Bently thinks that the rumor that Kevin Costner only scheduled a week to shoot his scenes is overblown and a lot of "drama over nothing."
Yellowstone fans have been on the edge of their seats recently amid numerous reports about Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves star Kevin Costner being unhappy with the show and only wanting to spend a week shooting his scenes, which affects everything from scripts and character storylines all the way to shooting dates for the show. However, here’s some reassuring news: Yellowstone star Wes Bentley doesn’t think fans have much to worry about and that all of the Costner-related drama has been overblown. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, the star said the various reports that have so many fans so concerned are “probably a bit of drama over nothing.”
While Bentley didn’t dive into any dirty details, he did hint that this kind of drama is something that the producers and showrunner of Yellowstone have had to deal with before. He mentioned how they are “working things out with everyone, to make sure we shoot” and expressed confidence they’d end up shooting because “we always have before.” Somehow, we doubt they have had to deal with drama on the scale that the award-winning Kevin Costner is allegedly bringing, but it’s reassuring to know that someone so close to the show is confident that things are going to work out.
It’s worth noting that, so far, all we know about Kevin Costner and the current Yellowstone drama comes from secondhand information alleging that he only wants to shoot scenes for a week for the second half of the fifth season and that his lawyer has denied these claims. Normally, it takes between 50-65 days for Costner to complete shooting a half-season, so it’s easy to see how someone allegedly refusing to only work for a fraction of that time could throw everything off. And depending on who you listen to, series co-creator and showrunner Taylor Sheridan is exploring some rather drastic solutions to the problem.
For example, some reports claim that Sheridan and Paramount Global may end Yellowstone as we know it and then launch a new series that continues the overall story. According to the rumors, Matthew McConaughey would be the big name attached to the project (effectively replacing Costner), and many (but not all) of the stars from Yellowstone would appear in the new show. Again, this is all just rumors, but such a solution would neatly replace one big star with another who is more accustomed to television work (McConaughey previously starred in True Detective), all while continuing the stories of everyone’s favorite characters.
And we can only imagine that Paramount Global wouldn’t mind replacing Kevin Costner on Yellowstone with someone who commands a smaller paycheck. At this point, Costner is reportedly getting paid $1.5 million per episode. We have no idea if Paramount really will replace Costner with McConaughey or what those salary negotiations would look like, but it seems likely the network could end up saving money with such a move.
In other words, Wes Bentley might be correct about Yellowstone finding a way to continue to shoot, even if that means replacing the headlining star and shifting almost everyone else into a brand-new series. What is less clear is whether fans would make the jump to yet another spinoff series or whether the loss of Costner could lead to a major loss of viewers. If that happens, then Paramount and Taylor Sheridan’s plans to create an entire western franchise may end up riding off into the sunset for good.
