With just days until the final episodes of Paramount Network’s Yellowstone, star Luke Grimes is opening up about the loss of Kevin Costner.
Grimes, 40, plays Kayce Dutton, the son of Costner’s John Dutton, owner of the massive Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, the largest cattle ranch in the United States.
Costner confirmed in June that he would not be back for the back half of the fifth and final season of Yellowstone, though it’s unclear how his exit will be handled on screen, though fans have theories about the finale.
Grimes revealed that filming the final episodes without Costner, 69, gave the production a completely different feel, adding there was, ‘a finality to it.’
‘Him not coming back felt like, “Okay, we’re going to have to land this plane now for real,”‘ Grimes shared.
‘I think the patriarch leaving was always going to be part of the story. That’s always where it was headed is like, what do these kids do? What does this family do when their rock is gone?’ he added.
The drama over Costner’s exit made headlines, due to production conflicts with his Horizon movie series.
Despite the drama surrounding the exit, Grimes admitted, ‘it was always going to go that way.’
‘Whatever the circumstances may be, [it] definitely felt like, “Okay, we’re coming in for a landing.” It definitely felt different,’ he added.
‘He’s a big presence, man, guy’s an icon. So not having him around to set felt a little different,’ Grimes admitted.
‘But as always, I mean, we’re a big family now. It was just as special and hopefully, the fans will be able to connect with the story just as much … I think they will be able to,’ he said.
He added of his own character Kayce, adding he, ‘feels a little bit like an outsider in his own family.’
‘I think that the thing that kind of put him in between a rock and a hard place was that deep down he felt the loyalty, even though he knew maybe it wasn’t the best thing for him,’ Grimes said of Kayce.
He said that Kayce’s dynamic was, ‘kind of fun to play with’ throughout the show’s five-season run.
‘I think when anything is this successful, there’s a pressure to keep it going because they know they have an audience and that’s what they’re looking for,’ Grimes said.
‘But it all comes down to Taylor [Sheridan’s] vision. He has to see it to be able to write it, and I don’t think he’s going to write something that he doesn’t want to,’ Grimes said.
‘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.”