Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan ‘developed god complex’ that created on-set tension

Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan developed a “god complex” on the set of the ill-fated show, which caused friction with star Kevin Costner — as well as several other stars — a source close to the production told DailyMail.com exclusively.

It was reported Monday that Paramount’s blockbuster Western series will end after the upcoming second half of its fifth season airs — with many placing the blame for the show’s abrupt finale on friction between Sheridan, 52, and Costner, 68.

Now, a source with detailed knowledge of the show has revealed new allegations about the tension between the series’ creator and its star actor, telling DailyMail.com, “Certain people responsible for the production developed a God complex.”

The insider also claimed that Costner was frustrated with how his concerns about the direction the series was taking were dismissed by Sheridan. asked questions about the show’s future.

“Kevin will forever be proud and grateful for Yellowstone and the cast is like family to him,” the source said of Costner, who recently bagged a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of John Dutton.

“He just felt that Yellowstone was going in a direction that wasn’t in line with their initial vision and he was criticized, including that he should just stick to acting.”

DailyMail.com has reached out to representatives for Costner, Sheridan and Paramount for comment.

Earlier this week, the New York Post reported that Costner’s desire to reduce his workload in the fifth season to focus on other projects was also the cause of the tension between him and Sheridan.

Costner is currently directing and starring in Horizon, a western film series consisting of four separate films released three months apart.

Each movie is nearly three hours long, and after the quadruple release, Horizon will be split into a series made for television – each with 42-minute episodes.

“It’s the same as with any showrunner and big star — there’s respect, but there’s friction,” a source described as “well-placed” within the production told the outlet.

Another “high-ranking” Hollywood source told the outlet that part of the blame for the “friction” on set rests with the creator.

Taylor is the star of his show. He is the most important person in all his shows,” they said.

Adding to the uncertainty surrounding the series is the lack of a date to resume filming for the second half of the final season, which could be disrupted by an impending shutdown after members of the Writers Guild of America voted to to approve a strike over wage issues.

The first half of the fifth season ended in January, but so far a date hasn’t even been set to start production on the second half, leaving it potentially vulnerable to the likely writer’s strike.

However, the production source told the Post, “We hope it gets resolved. It’s too big a show not to work things out.

“Hopefully Kevin will return for the remaining episodes, if everyone cooperates, but it looks like Yellowstone will be shutting down after this season.”

But a third source Sheridan knows seemed to suggest that the writer and director kept negotiations close to the vest, making it difficult to get a sense of what was really going on behind the scenes.

“Only Taylor really knows what’s going on,” they said mysteriously.

According to the Hollywood source, it was Sheridan’s relatively late rise to industry fame that fueled his “ego.”

“Taylor wasn’t really appreciated in Hollywood for years, and now that he’s on top, there’s definitely some ego in all of this,” they said.

deadline reported in February that Costner wanted to film just one week in the second half of season five, having already cut back his work on the first half.

The obvious reason was that the actor wanted to focus on his upcoming western film franchise Horizon.

But Costner’s attorney, Marty Singer, fired back after the report, claiming it did Puck News that it was an “absolute lie” that his client would only shoot for a week.

“As anyone who knows anything about Kevin knows, he is incredibly passionate about the show and has always done everything he can to ensure its success,” he said at the time.

And the Hollywood source seemed to confirm Costner’s willingness to return to work, though in this case it was reportedly Sheridan’s lack of preparation that got in the way of things.

They added that Sheridan was “overextended” and “nothing was ready,” even after Costner “made himself available.”

They said Costner was willing to shoot the second half of the season sometime last year, as well as January of this year, but there would be no completed scripts to shoot at that time.

“Kevin has worked extremely well with Taylor and his production company, 101 Studios. They were supposed to shoot the second chapter of season five late last year, but they just didn’t have the scripts,” the Hollywood source claimed.

Kevin had already committed to making his other films. He had given the producers his schedule,” they said. “There was nothing to shoot.”

Sheridan has expanded its reach significantly in recent years.

Although he wrote and directed the entire first season of Yellowstone, he stepped back in subsequent seasons and had other directors fill in, though he continued to write or co-write nearly every script.

But he’s added several more shows to his portfolio, all of which have significant creative input from him.

In 2021, his Jeremy Renner series Mayor Of Kingstown premiered, and Sheridan directed two episodes and wrote the entire first season, before reducing his load in the second season.

He then directed the pilot and wrote every episode of his 1883 Yellowstone prequel series, as well as writing every episode of the subsequent 1923 prequel series.

In 2022, Sheridan created the Sylvester Stallone series Tulsa King, for which he wrote the pilot, and he created and serves as showrunner for the upcoming espionage series Lioness, starring Nicole Kidman and Zoë Saldaña.

The next series Sheridan has created is the Western Bass Reeves, starring David Oyelowo and Dennis Quaid, for which he will direct the pilot.

Paramount appears to be hedging its bets on Costner.

Keith Cox, president of Paramount Network, says he was “very confident that Costner would continue with our show.”

The series airs live on the Paramount Network, but is streamed on the NBC service Peacock due to a licensing deal.

Peacock retains the streaming rights to Yellowstone for four years after the final episode airs, meaning how long the show lasts, how long it can remain exclusive.

However, subsequent Yellowstone spinoffs – and other Sheridan shows – will air on the Paramount+ streamer.