Luke Grimes makes awkward U-turn over Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone departure and teases season 5 ending

Luke Grimes has made an awkward U-turn over Kevin Costner’s departure from their hit show Yellowstone.

The actor, 40, who plays Costner’s on-screen son Kayce Dutton in the show, previously called the icon’s acrimonious departure from the show ‘unfortunate’ – but now says the show ‘works’ without his character John Dutton.

Yellowstone’s fifth season, part two, finally premieres on November 10 – without Costner, 69.

Grimes told it Newsweek: ‘I just feel like it would be unfair of me to talk about that because, you know, [the show] It took seven years and so many things happened that I know about, and so many things that happened that I don’t know about.

“I don’t have an overview of that whole situation, you know? All I know is what happened, happened and the show rolled with the punches.

Grimes plays Kayce Dutton in Yellowstone, the son of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton III character

“We were able to wrap up the show and finish it in a way that I think will really work for everyone, even in the midst of all that.”

He teased the long-awaited ending to season five, saying, “I think it’ll just be very satisfying because that’s, I mean, that’s what you want. That’s what you want. And the end of a great show is something unpredictable and satisfying.”

In April, Grimes said of Costner’s departure amid a rumored feud with showrunner Taylor Sheridan: “Whatever happened there, it’s a shame if it changes anything about the way the show would unfold, per The independent.

The Dayton, Ohio native has appeared in 47 episodes of the popular Western series created by Sheridan, 53, and airing on Paramount Network.

Grimes, referring to Costner’s two-part Western drama Horizon, said the Oscar winner has been “busy with his films that seem like passion projects,” and it’s understandable why he would choose to shift gears.

“At some point you gotta do what you gotta do, man; you have to do what you love,” he said.

Costner left the series in May 2023.

In February 2023, insiders said Term that Costner’s focus on his film Horizon: An American Saga had been “a source of frustration for Sheridan” and had “created moral problems for the show’s other stars.”

Grimes said: ‘We were able to finish the show and finish it in a way that I think will really work for everyone, even in the midst of all that’ – photo 2022

Costner left the series in May 2023 amid a rumored feud with show creator Taylor Sheridan – photo 2018

Costner’s departure from the series was confirmed in May 2023, production sources said Entertainment tonight that the Dances With Wolves star had left the series.

Costner’s departure followed a period doomed by “a lot of confusion and frustration” over his future status, sources told the newspaper.

Paramount confirmed in May 2023 that the series would end with the second half of the fifth season.

It was originally scheduled to air in November 2023, but last year’s entertainment industry strikes pushed the film back a year, with a current premiere date of November 10, 2024.

Sheridan told it The Hollywood Reporter in June 2023 that he was “disappointed” by Costner’s departure, feeling it negatively affected the show creatively.

The actors appeared in an episode of the Paramount Network drama alongside costar Cole Hauser, who plays Rip Wheeler

“It shortens the closure of his character,” Sheridan said. “It doesn’t change it, but it curtails it.”

Sheridan said his “opinion of Kevin as an actor has not changed” as a result of his departure, calling his “creation of John Dutton … symbolic and powerful.”

Sheridan played down their alleged tension and creative differences: “I’ve never had an issue with Kevin where he and I couldn’t work it out on the phone.

“But once lawyers get involved, people can stop talking to each other and start saying things that aren’t true and trying to shift blame based on how the press or public seems to react.”

Sheridan said Costner “took on a lot of this” in terms of the saga playing out in public, adding, “I don’t know if anyone deserves it.”

Sheridan said of Horizon: An American Saga: “His film seems to be a big priority for him and he wants to shift the focus. I sure hope so [the movie is] is worth it – and that it is a good one.’

Costner said this earlier this month AND on a possible comeback for Yellowstone’s last season: “I would love to, but we haven’t been able to do it.”

When asked about his character’s fate, Costner said he “had a little bit of my own fantasy about what it could be like, but” it was ultimately Sheridan’s decision.

“I told him that a while ago,” Costner said. “I had thoughts about how it could happen, but we’ll just have to see.”