Taylor Sheridan Got Robert Redford For Yellowstone, So Why Wasn't He In It?

"Yellowstone," the official show of dads everywhere, has helped bring Kevin Costner back into the spotlight. To be clear, Costner never went away — he's been acting steadily for decades. But his star declined slightly throughout his career, and "Yellowstone" helped bring it back in a major way. Now, Costner is gearing up to depart the series — but "Yellowstone" will live on without him. And curiously enough, the show almost happened without Costner to begin with. 

At one point, there was a seemingly very good chance that none other than the Sundance Kid, aka Robert Redford, was set to play the part of Dutton family patriarch John Dutton III instead of Costner. Redford and Costner have both played cowboys before in their illustrious careers, but they're considerably different actors, particularly in how they approach the roles they play. So what happened here? Why did Costner end up with the part over Redford? 

While speaking with THR, "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan, who seems to get a new series greenlit every other week, revealed that when "Yellowstone" was coming together, the producers decided the show needed a big star as the lead. Sheridan says he pitched Kevin Costner as that star, but the executives "didn't see it." Instead, they suggested Robert Redford. "They said, 'We want Robert Redford,'" Sheridan tells THR. "They said, 'If you can get us Robert Redford, we'll greenlight the pilot.'"

Sheridan decided to take the initiative and go ask Redford personally. Here's how it went down, according to Sheridan: 

"I drive to Sundance and spend the day with him and he agrees to play John Dutton. I call the senior vice president in charge of production and say, 'I got him!' 'You got who?' 'Robert Redford.' 'What?!' 'You said if I got Robert Redford, you'd greenlight the show.'"

Seems pretty cut and dry, right? Well, hold your horses.

You'd think the execs would be thrilled that Redford, a major star, was on board. But that's not how it went down, at least as Sheridan tells it. When he gave the VP the good news, the VP reportedly replied that they were looking for a "Robert Redford type," not Redford himself. Personally, I find this story a little hard to believe. Would execs really turn down Robert Freakin' Redford if the actor had already said he would appear in the show?

Maybe. Maybe Redford's asking price was too high for the series. Maybe the producers just really did not want him on board. In any case, Redford did not get the role and Costner did. And by all accounts, things worked out, since "Yellowstone" is a hit. Still, it's hard not to wonder how different the show would be with Redford in the lead. It's probably safe to assume the entire vibe of the series would be different, but we'll never know for sure. Now let's put on our cowboy hats and ride off into the sunset together. Yee-haw!