A lot of media franchises suffered a lot in their filming and production schedules due to the writers and SAG-AFTRA strikes that took place last year. The neo-Western drama series starring Kevin Costner as the leader of the Dutton family, Yellowstone also saw a major delay in its filming schedule, and subsequently, the release of the final season of the series has been delayed significantly.
However, the strikes were not the only reason for the delay in the filming of the series. It was Kevin Costner’s filming schedule that has also been causing trouble for the crew and cast of Yellowstone.
Kevin Costner’s filming schedule has caused Yellowstone to be delayed
Season 5 of Yellowstone is going to be the final season of the series and the first part of the season was released back in January 2023. The second part of the season which was to wrap up the series was all set to be released in November 2023 but the release was delayed due to the writers’ strike and later due to the filming issues of the star of the series, Kevin Costner.
According to Deadline, Costner agreed to have 65 days of filming for season 5 of the series but allegedly wanted to shoot 50 days for only the first part of the season and wrap up the final part of the series in only 2 weeks. Therefore, some arrangements had to be made to adjust the schedule of Kevin Costner as he portrays the role of the main character in the series, John Dutton.
A Paramount Network spokesperson also talked about how they are looking to work with the Oscar-winning actor, Matthew McConaughey on a spinoff of Yellowstone. The spokesperson said,
“We have no news to report. Kevin Costner is a big part of Yellowstone and we hope that’s the case for a long time to come. Thanks to the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan, we are always working on franchise expansions of this incredible world he has built. Matthew McConaughey is a phenomenal talent with whom we’d love to partner.”
However, according to recent sources, McConaughey is getting a bit impatient about no updates from the side of Paramount Network about the future of his contract with them.
Matthew McConaughey is getting impatient
A source close to Matthew McConaughey recently opened up to Life & Style and talked about the actor getting impatient as he has not received any updates from the executives about the spin-off series and has also not signed a contract as of yet. The source said,
“Matthew can’t book movie work that is going to potentially overlap with the show. But he still doesn’t have clarity on when exactly this job would even start. He wants to make the deal — it’s become this incredibly drawn-out process. No deal has ever taken this long for Matthew, especially after he won his Oscar, getting folks to meet his asking price has been a breeze.”
Matthew McConaughey is allegedly asking for a whopping amount of almost $2.5 million per episode for his role in Yellowstone’s spin-off series.
All seasons of Yellowstone are currently streaming on Peacock.