Paramount Community is within the midst of bringing 1883’s ten-episode season to an enormous viewers pool, partially as a result of lack of recent Yellowstone universe content material. In a super world, we’d be spending a part of the summer time watching Kevin Costner’s John Dutton inspiring Jamie’s flop sweat in new episodes, however the actor has lengthy been rumored to be the rationale why issues went haywire behind the scenes earlier this yr. And now it appears to be like like his ex Christine Baumgartner particularly referred to as the actor out in court docket paperwork by saying he might have simply caught across the prime of Yellowstone’s name sheet if he wasn’t such a “money-focused particular person.”
Ever for the reason that rumor mill exploded again in February, basically the one occasions Costner has really mentioned the world “yellowstone” was tied solely to his band’s album title, and he has basically stopped addressing the present publicly. It initially appeared like that may have been as a result of the Dances with Wolves filmmaker had been main slighted not directly, however right here’s how his ex-wife referred to as him out in a declaration filed in July 2023 (by way of Insider):
Kevin’s worth as an actor has by no means been increased, particularly after the success of Yellowstone. Kevin might have continued with the present, however he selected to not as a way to pursue the Horizon venture.
Baumgartner, who’s the mom of the previous couple’s three kids, didn’t precisely peg the whole lot to Costner’s timeless love of cinema or his ardour for telling the story on the coronary heart of Horizon. Relatively, she tied that every one into the actor being pushed by monetary targets, and mentioned the rationale why he left Yellowstone within the mud was as a result of he felt his personal Western movie collection would ”improve his earnings exponentially.” (The purse designer herself had beforehand been blamed for alllegedly forcing him to go away the present.)
Whereas these statements could also be fully on the extent and genuine to Christine Baumgartner’s experiences, one can simply nonetheless query the sensibility there. Clearly, Costner is certainly enthusiastic about unleashing his four-part saga Horizon, for which he reunited with Yellowstone vets like Danny Huston and Will Patton. And it does appear fairly clear that filming schedules for that venture are an enormous a part of why he reportedly needed a extra restricted function for John in Season 5. In spite of everything, whereas Costner might have had enormous TV success prior to now with restricted collection like Hatfields & McCoys, he’s nonetheless very a lot a movies-minded particular person at coronary heart, and his filmmaker tendencies most likely gained’t ever go away fully. (Simply take a look at how typically he’ll put up about loving his profession today with out mentioning Yellowstone in any respect.)
However it’s the claims about his obsessions with cash that appear barely off, particularly relating to buying and selling off these two initiatives. So many divorce particulars have centered on Baumgartner’s makes an attempt to get more cash for youngster help, which basically made their monetary information public, and induced Costner to severely reduce her bank card limits. And we all know that he introduced a prenup settlement into this marriage given the huge payoff that accompanied his first divorce a few years in the past. So he clearly has little interest in being fully broke.
Nonetheless, he beforehand talked about how he has put many, many tens of millions of {dollars} into bringing Horizon to life, making it as a lot of a danger as it’s a ardour venture for the Emmy winner. Given the state of field workplace help for options that are not full-on blockbusters, it isn’t straightforward to be blindly assured about Costner using this four-part western drama all the best way to the financial institution and again once more.
Plus, he was making greater than $1 million an episode for Yellowstone‘s fifrth season. And whereas that is probably not on the identical degree as an enormous function payday, it is assured cash for portraying a personality which means lots to Costner, even when he might not wish to play the function that a lot anymore. Maybe some Paramount Community exec needed the actor to take a paycut, or perhaps Taylor Sheridan was bored with Costner’s gripes and wrote one thing into the fifth season that Costner didn’t wish to go ahead with. Till extra particulars come out, it is onerous to know the place issues lie.
Followers can stream previous Yellowstone episodes with a Peacock subscription whereas ready to see what is going to occur subsequent for Costner and his fictional Dutton household, in addition to his real-life household.
