Yellowstone Boss Taylor Sheridan Breaks Silence On Kevin Costner: 'Hope It's Worth It'

Taylor Sheridan -- the mastermind behind Yellowstone -- has finally broken his silence on the Kevin Costner fallout.

In a lengthy sit-down with The Hollywood Reporter (THR), Sheridan put to bed a couple rumors, confirmed a few others, and spoke candidly about Costner.

“My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered,” Sheridan said. “His creation of John Dutton is symbolic and powerful … and I’ve never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn’t work out on the phone.

"But once lawyers get involved, then people don’t get to talk to each other and start saying things that aren’t true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting. He took a lot of this on the chin and I don’t know that anyone deserves it.

"His movie seems to be a great priority to him and he wants to shift focus. I sure hope worth it — and that it’s a good one."

Taylor Sheridan talks Yellowstone, Kevin Costner divorce

A lot to break down there -- and still plenty to come!

Kevin Costner is leaving Yellowstone -- and the show is ending altogether -- at the end of the current season. The development comes from months of ugly back-and-forth stemming from Costner's desire to focus more on his upcoming western epic, Horizon.

Sheridan told THR that he never had a problem with Costner's requests to work fewer days on the Yellowstone set in recent seasons, and those negotiations were more between Costner and Paramount.

However, sources from the Costner camp reportedly told THR the actor was frustrated about the lack of scripts.

"Kevin’s been unfairly portrayed in this thing,” the source told THR. “How can you schedule something when there are no scripts? doing eight other shows.”

Sheridan said his last conversation before the actor got lawyers involved was about his schedule moving forward.

“My last conversation with Kevin was that he had this passion project he wanted to direct," he said. "He and the network were arguing about when he could be done with Yellowstone. I said, ‘We can certainly work a schedule toward ,’ which we did.”

Sheridan also provided several updates on the second half of season 5, which was supposed to air later this year but may be pushed due to the Writers Strike.

The bad news? It sounds like Costner may not return AT ALL.

"There are ongoing discussions to try to convince Costner to film a few scenes to wrap his character, though the scripts are not yet complete," THR writes.

Yellowstone Season Five update gives fans hope

The good news, though? John Dutton, according to Sheridan, was never supposed to be around for the end of the show. The ending -- while truncated -- won't change.

Speaking of that ending -- while the plan is for six final episodes to end the show, Sheridan said he could see that number expanding.

“If I think it takes 10 episodes to wrap it up, they’ll give me 10,” he said. “It’ll be as long as it needs to be.”

Finally, when asked if there was anything he could do to save the situation, Sheridan deflected blame straight to the network.

“I didn’t do anything to begin with! I don’t dictate the schedule. I don’t determine when things start filming. I don’t determine when things air. Those decisions are made by people way above me," he said.

"My sphere of control is the content — that’s it. No production of mine has ever waited on me. Believe me, I begged with 1883. I begged with 1923. Begged. Nope, ‘Airdate locked; for what we pay you, figure it out.’

"And I don’t stand in a corner and go, ‘I’m not going to do it.’"