Why Yellowstone Creator Taylor Sheridan Cast Kevin Costner As John Dutton

As "Yellowstone" approached its conclusion, yeehaws turned into hoo-hahs when Kevin Costner made a heated exit from the series prior to its final batch of episodes. Costner's departure, the result of behind-the-scenes issues, ultimately led to his character John Dutton being killed off in "Yellowstone" Season 5 Part 2. Regardless of how things wrapped up though, there's no doubt that Costner, as the leader of the Yellowstone ranch, provided exactly what was required — something that the show's creator, Taylor Sheridan, envisioned from the start.

In s 2018 interview with Collider, Sheridan said that casting Costner was a dream come true, describing it as collaboration he had long hoped for. "I'd been a fan of Kevin's work my whole life," Sheridan confessed. "Just the chance to sit down with someone you've admired was a great honor. I was really eager to find something to do with him, and I had the idea for this show. I wrote the pilot and sent it to him."

While Sheridan caught his man, their collaboration didn't end on the highest note, which might tarnish some of the shine off the beloved show (which was often compared to "The Sopranos" with Stetsons). Nevertheless, Costner's involvement with "Yellowstone" helped pave the way to Sheridan recruiting equally massive talents for the various spinoff shows exploring the Dutton family's long and complicated history, including Indiana Jones and Queen Elizabeth themselves.

Having successfully cast Costner on "Yellowstone," Sheridan became emboldened to hire the actors he wanted for his projects before putting pen to paper, not after. Such was the case when decided on having Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren play John Dutton's ancestors, Jacob and Cara Dutton, on one of the best "Yellowstone" shows, "1923." In a 2022 interview with Deadline, Sheridan revealed that he approached Ford and Mirren the same way for the series — with an invite to his home and a decent glass of wine. The showrunner also recounted his experience recruiting Ford to illustrate his newfound approach to casting in general:

"[Ford] flew down. I said, 'We're going to do this thing together.' He goes, 'Can I read a script?' I said, 'You can when it's written, but it ain't written yet, and you got to commit to it now. I need to know who I'm writing for. I'm done wondering who I'm writing for, and I have to go try to chase the person I had in my mind and I can't get the person because they're doing some fu****g Netflix show. I don't do that s**t anymore.'"

From there, Sheridan poured a few glasses of a peace offering to finalize the deal and repeated the same approach with Mirren when he knew everything was moving forward. "[Ford] said 'yes.' I got him on the plane as fast as I could, closed the deal, and said, 'Send me the next one.' Then came Helen, and same thing. 'Have a glass of wine,'" Sheridan explained. 

So, there you have it. If you want to build a shared television universe like Taylor Sheridan, make sure your laptop is fully charged and the wine rack is fully stocked.