‘I’d love to do it’: Kevin Costner has ‘fantasy’ on how John Dutton dies in ‘Yellowstone’

As production reportedly begins next month on the back half of “Yellowstone” season 5, star Kevin Costner is still hoping he’ll be part of the show’s final episodes. Show creator Taylor Sheridan has been mum on the subject.

“I’d like to be able to do it but we haven’t been able to,” Costner told Entertainment Tonight earlier this month. “I thought I was going to make seven [seasons] but right now we’re at five.”

It’s been over a year since word broke that season 5 of the show would be Costner’s last due to scheduling conflicts with his multi-part western movie epic, “Horizon.”

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Paramount confirmed last spring that “Yellowstone” as a whole would end in its current form with the final episodes of the fifth season. With a November 2024 release date set, production on the final episodes of “Yellowstone” is slated “to begin in a few weeks,” according to Hollywood insider website — Puck.

Costner spoke with Entertainment Tonight earlier this month at Cinema Con, an annual convention for movie theater owners. Costner was there promoting his two-part western epic “Horizon,” the first movie drops June 28 and the second on Aug. 16.

The actor was candid about “Yellowstone,” the show he’s starred in since it debuted on the Paramount Network in 2018.

“So how it works out — I hope it does — but they’ve got a lot of different shows going on,” Costner told Entertainment Tonight. “Maybe it will. Maybe this will circle back to me. If it does and I feel really comfortable with [it], I’d love to do it.”

With “Yellowstone” coming to an end, Costner said he’s thought about how his character John Dutton will ride off into the sunset.

“Well, you know, he needs to be proactive in what happens and I’ve kind of had my own fantasy how it might be,” Costner told Entertainment Tonight. “But that’s Taylor’s thing. I said as much to him a while back. I had thoughts how it could happen, but we just have to see.”

Costner has a “moral death” provision in his contract, meaning that the actor has a say about how John Dutton can or can’t be killed on the show, according to Puck News. The stipulation includes protection from Dutton dying in ways that would cause shame or embarrassment to the character, or Costner and his family.

IS A “YELLOWSTONE” SEQUEL SHOW STILL IN THE WORKS?

Yes and it could even begin shooting later this summer.

When Paramount announced last year that “Yellowstone” was ending, the studio also announced that a sequel show was in the works. The show wouldn’t star Costner, but other stars from the flagship show might appear.

Now, Puck is reporting that Kelly Reilly (Beth Dutton) and Cole Hauser (Rip Wheeler) are in talks to join the show but haven’t signed on just yet.

While Paramount’s offer was reportedly at $850,000 an episode for the pair, Reilly initially asked for $1.5 million and Hauser $1.25 million. Discussions are still ongoing and the rumored current number per episode for Reilly and Hauser is around $1 million an episode.

Matthew McConaughey has been rumored to star in the sequel show for sometime now and Puck is reiterating that Sheridan still wants the Texas actor in the show, along with actress Michelle Pfeiffer.

As for other “Yellowstone” actors who reportedly might appear in the sequel show alongside Hauser and Reilly, Luke Grimes (Casey Dutton) is also in the mix, according to Puck.

Filming on the “Yellowstone” sequel series is reportedly set to shoot in late summer and will air after the flagship show wraps up.