Yellowstone star breaks silence on filming 'different' final season without Kevin Costner

Yellowstone's fifth and, most likely, final season of the flagship Western drama will start to wrap up this Sunday, with millions of fans expected to tune in.

After a staggering two-year wait, the second half of the climactic chapter of the Dutton saga will wrap up the show with six gripping episodes of ranch drama.

Hollywood A-lister Kevin Costner stepped into his first major TV role as patriarch John Dutton when the show first launched in 2018.

However, in the midst of his turbulent divorce and a new ambitious big-screen project, the four-part Western film Horizon, he decided to part ways with the series before season five came to an end.

Now, his co-star Luke Grimes, who portrays John's son Kayce Dutton in the series, has revealed what it was like to come back without Costner at the top of the call sheet.

"Him not coming back felt like, 'Okay, we're going to have to land this plane now for real'," he shared.

Although Costner's departure came as a huge shock to fans, Grimes maintains John's exit from the narrative has always been a part of showrunner Taylor Sheridan's masterplan.

"I think the patriarch leaving was always going to be part of the story," he explained in an interview with People.

"That's always where it was headed is like, what do these kids do? What does this family do when their rock is gone?"

Even so, Grimes and the rest of the cast still had some reservations about coming back with Costner's support.

"Whatever the circumstances may be, [it] definitely felt like, 'Okay, we're coming in for a landing.' It definitely felt different," he adds.

Despite Costner's dramatic departure, there are still rumours of Yellowstone's main story continuing alongside the new offshoots - which include a modern-day series starring Michelle Pfeiffer and another prequel series set in 1944.

Plus, Grimes is still unsure whether fans will have seen the last of the Duttons after season five concludes.

"Basically we're just going to see if Taylor has an idea that he gets excited about, and that's going to make all the difference here," he teased.

Whatever the case, the Yellowstone franchise is never short of ideas and the Western universe will continue to expand over the coming years.

The Pfeiffer-starring sequel series, titled The Madison, is expected premiere in 2025 and will also star Patrick J. Adams and Beau Garrett, with A-listers Matthew McConaughey and Kurt Russell previously in talks to star.

Yellowstone season 5, part 2 premieres Sunday, November 10 on Paramount and the following Monday on Paramount+.