Kayce Dutton is finally speaking out.
Luke Grimes is addressing the drama that has surrounded his “Yellowstone” co-star Kevin Costner amid ongoing confusion if the vet actor will actually return for Season 5.
“Whatever happened there is unfortunate if it’s changed anything about how the show was going to unfold,” Grimes, 40, said in a recent interview with The Independent.
The musician went on to note that he knew Costner, 69, became “busy” with his “passion projects,” which includes his upcoming film “Horizon: An American Saga.”
“At a certain point, you gotta do what you gotta do, man,” he added. “You gotta do what you love.”
Grimes plays Costner’s son, Kayce Dutton, on the show.
“If I could have figured out my dream role at the age that I got that job, it would have been Kayce,” he told the outlet. However, he refuses to watch himself onscreen.
“I’m so scared that I’m gonna watch it and not like what I did,” he added.
The beloved Paramount series is coming to an end, but the cast has yet to film its final Season 5 episodes for part two. Last year, reports surfaced that Costner wanted to spend less time filming and creator Taylor Sheridan said he was “disappointed” because it “truncates the closure” of Costner’s character, John Dutton.
“I’ve never had an issue with Kevin that he and I couldn’t work out on the phone,” Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2023. “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.”
He added: “I sure hope [the movie is] worth it — and that it’s a good one.”
That August — amid Costner’s divorce proceedings with ex-wife Christine Baumgartner — court docs noted that Costner “refused to answer questions about whether he was offered the opportunity” to star in a potential sixth season of “Yellowstone” — “or if he simply chose to quit.”
According to the brief, Costner made about $11 million for Season 4, approximately $1.1 million per episode. For Season 5, he was paid $10 million, or $1.25 million per episode.
Costner’s lawyer ultimately denied that the actor was holding up production, which was also delayed due to the Hollywood writer strikes.
Despite the drama, Costner recently suggested he would actually return to the Dutton Ranch.
“I’d like to be able to do it but we haven’t been able to,” Costner told Entertainment Tonight while at CinemaCon 2024 in Las Vegas earlier this month.
“I thought I was going to make seven [seasons of ‘Yellowstone’] but right now we’re at five. So how it works out — and I hope it does — but they’ve got a lot of different shows going on,” he said. “Maybe it will [work out]. Maybe this will circle back to me.”
He concluded: “If it does and I feel really comfortable with [it], I’d love to do it.”
