Report Alleges Yellowstone Turmoil: Kevin Costner Clashed With Co-Star, Left Another in Tears
A new Hollywood Reporter exposé says Kevin Costner got into an on-set fight with Wes Bentley while filming Yellowstone, a clash that reportedly left another castmate in tears.
Turns out the biggest shootout on Yellowstone might have happened off camera. A new report says Kevin Costner and Wes Bentley got into it during a scene, and yes, it sounds just as tense as you think.
The on-set blow-up
Per The Hollywood Reporter, the incident went down on a soundstage in Utah while Costner was filming with Wes Bentley and Kelly Reilly. Costner, who starred in and executive produced the series, reportedly told Bentley to play the moment his way and ignore Taylor Sheridan's script. Bentley refused, basically telling him he signed on for Sheridan's show, not a Kevin Costner production.
'Kevin didn’t like that, and he lunged at him.'
That quote is from a source who says no punches were thrown, but the two ended up chest-to-chest, shoving, and had to be pulled apart. One witness said Reilly was in tears. Production paused briefly after the scuffle. Inside baseball alert: telling a co-star to toss Sheridan's pages on Sheridan's show is... a choice.
The fallout and the exit
This wasn’t the end of Costner's Yellowstone headaches. After the first half of Season 5, his behind-the-scenes feud with Sheridan spilled into public view. Costner was deep into directing his passion project, Horizon: An American Saga, and the schedule started clashing with Yellowstone. Negotiations over pay and a filming timetable went nowhere, and in June 2024, Costner confirmed he was done with the series.
- Costner played John Dutton, the Dutton ranch patriarch.
- He won the 2023 Golden Globe for Best Actor in a TV Drama for Yellowstone.
- The Season 5 break is when tensions with Sheridan became very visible.
Meanwhile, on the Horizon front...
Costner's four-film Western saga has hit a wall. Chapter 1 opened in June 2024, drew mixed reviews, and only made about $38 million worldwide. Chapter 2 was supposed to roll into theaters in August 2024, but Warner Bros. yanked it from the release calendar after Chapter 1 underperformed. There’s no new date for Chapter 2 yet. Chapters 3 and 4 are still in development, at least on paper.