1923 is coming back for its second season this Sunday on Paramount+.
The Yellowstone prequel spinoff is returning on Feb. 23 and the series takes viewers back to the Prohibition era with the Dutton family in 1923 Montana. This generation of the Dutton family is played by Helen Mirren (Cara), Harrison Ford (Jacob), Brandon Sklenar (Spencer), Darren (Jack) and Isabel May (Elsa). They are the ancestors of rancher John Dutton III, who Kevin Costner portrayed in the original Yellowstone and who the story revolves around as well as his family in the modern era.
As Yellowstone 1923 occurs years before John was a twinkle in anybody’s eye, it’s less likely Kevin would make an appearance. It also doesn’t seem likely he’d appear in a future flashback if the show was inclined to include his character or a new character. There has also been no recent talk about Kevin returning to the franchise either.
The 70-year-old actor left Yellowstone season five part one. And by the premiere episode of season five part two, viewers learned that his character’s death was due to a gunshot from an assassination made to seem like a suicide.
There were many rumors about his departure from scheduling conflicts with his own Western film saga, Horizon, as well as reports of brewing tensions with the show creator Taylor Sheridan.
Kevin confirmed in a video on Instagram in June 2024 that he would not be in the second half of season five of Yellowstone.
“I want to reach out and let you know that after this long year and a half of working on Horizon and doing all the things that’s required, and thinking about Yellowstone, that beloved series that I love, that I know you love, I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue Season 5B or into the future,” he said.
“It was something that really changed me. I loved it. And I know you loved it. And I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning and I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop and I’ll see you at the movies,” Kevin continued.
In an interview in May 2024, Kevin clarified that the rumors about him not prioritizing shooting Yellowstone were untrue. He claimed: “Paramount and 101 Studios mismanaged this,” in terms of his contract and claimed he was willing to do three more seasons.
But Kevin did say that he would be open to returning to the showt o Deadline in the same May 2024 interview, particularly “if the writing is there.” He even said to Entertainment Weekly in May 2024 that he would work with Taylor again.
“He likes a lot of the things that I like, and the idea of us working together is not out of the question for me,” He said to the outlet. Kevin also stated that their potential future collaboration would be “a Taylor question.”
Although it seems Kevin was done with Yellowstone as he didn’t appear in the final season and was subsequently killed off. He made an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Michael Smerconish Program and spoke about how he wasn’t in a “rush to go see” that premiere episode after learning about John’s fate
Also days after the Yellowstone series finale air on Dec. 15 , he was asked by paparazzi in Aspen, Colorado about the finale. In a video, Kevin said: “I’m not thinking about [the Yellowstone finale], I don’t think I’ve given it any thoughts, we’ll just let it go.”
So while Kevin is not interested the fictional world of Yellowstone, he is coming back to do a three-part docuseries for Fox Nation about the American history of the national parks including Yellowstone and Yosemite.