Should Kevin Costner even return for Yellowstone season 5 part 2 at this point?

The former face of the Yellowstone franchise and Horizon star opened up about a possible return to the final season of Yellowstone on TODAY. After all the drama that unfolded between Kevin Costner, Taylor Sheridan, and Paramount most fans assumed that a potential return for John Dutton was too unreachable. But could the tide be turning?

"I’ve supported that thing and I’ve loved it. It’s been really important to me. I would love to go back under the right circumstances, I think that all of us want. For me, it really needs to be the right circumstances."

- Kevin Costner

While Costner has opened the door and said there is always a chance and we know he really loves Yellowstone, and it’s a role of a lifetime that will never be forgotten in television history, it does feel a little too late for it. Currently, season 5 is being filmed and the fate of John Dutton is still up in the air. Could Sheridan and the network let bygones be bygones and finish out John Dutton’s story the right way?

In an interview with GQ magazine, Costner explained his exit from the show is not as black and white as Paramount Network made it seem. The network decided to split Yellowstone season 5 into two blocks, but he had a contract with Horizon to fulfill. Due to making those changes, and scripts not being put out on time Costner was unable to hold off filming his greatest passion project.

It all sounds like a situation where the clock just ran out. The network was dragging its feet under the assumption Kevin was going to put his project first. That wasn’t exactly the case. Costner very much has a strong love for Yellowstone and wanted to finish out a role he’d been playing for five years.

John Dutton needs to make an apperance in the final season of Yellowstone

There is a strong divide among fans about whether the powerhouse performer should return or not. Some fans think it's too late, while others don’t see how the show can end without the patriarch of the family. While it’s probably impossible for the Oscar-winning actor to return for a massive story, I do think it’s imperative to see him in the finale.

Yellowstone fans have come in by the millions and invested so many years with the show. They’ve continued their support via other Yellowstone spinoffs, and that is all thanks to the mothership show. It’s going to be difficult to say goodbye to over half a decade of greatness, and I do not see Yellowstone’s type of success matched again. I don’t know what a John Dutton goodbye is going to look like, but Sheridan must end on a high note and give the honorable pillar of Montana his dues.

It is hard to believe that season 5 debuted back in 2022. Fans have been left waiting for the second installment ever since and left to stew over the many unanswered questions. The show left off with an impending Dutton civil war between Jamie and Beth with Beth all but insinuating they need to kill Jamie and Jamie wanting to do whatever it takes to become the Governor of Montana.

The worst mistake the Duttons made was making Jamie the enemy. He knows far too many family secrets and has an arsenal to use if he needs to. Beth Dutton knows that, and the easiest way to eliminate that threat would be to take him to the train station. A canyon of family secrets that Beth has recently come across. The battle to be governor could very well be the death of both Jamie and John in the end.