Kevin Costner not returning to ‘Yellowstone’: ‘It was something that really changed me’

Kevin Costner announced Thursday night through Instagram that he will not return for another season of ‘Yellowstone.’ 

“Hi, everyone. I just 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 that’s required, and thinking about Yellowstone, that beloved series that I love and I know you love. I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue Season 5, or into the future,” Costner says in his post. 

“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. I love the relationship that we’ve been able to develop, and I’ll see you at the movies.”

KEVIN COSTNER ‘DISAPPOINTED’ WITH HOW ‘YELLOWSTONE’ HANDLED EXIT RUMORS AS SHOW SETS NEW PREMIERE DATE

Costner, 69, who has portrayed John Dutton lll in the series for five seasons, recently said he loved the show but was “disappointed” in how the rumors surrounding his exit were handled by production. 

“I loved the show. I liked the people on the show. I liked what it was about. I love that world,” Costner said.

‘YELLOWSTONE’ ENDING AFTER SECOND HALF OF SEASON FIVE AMID KEVIN COSTNER DRAMA

“There was a moment where that show for me stopped for 14 months… That’s the fact,” he said. “I could have done a lot of things in that time, but I wasn’t aware that [hold-up] was going to happen.”

“I read all the stories,” Costner said. “I was disappointed that nobody on their side … ever stepped up to defend what it was I actually did for them. There came a moment where I thought, ‘Wow, when is somebody going to say something about what I have done versus what I haven’t done?'”

Costner said the show didn’t have the scripts for the second half of the season, which particularly made it difficult for him to balance working between Horizon and Yellowstone.

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“I left my movie [‘Horizon’] to be on time for them for 5B,” Costner said. “I left exactly when they wanted, and it made it hard on me. It turns out they didn’t have the scripts for 5B. They needed four more days just to complete the first eight episodes. I left early to give them what they needed to have a complete eight, and I felt bad that the audience didn’t get 10. They didn’t have the scripts for anything else.”

Costner added, “So, what you read in the end was that I said, ‘Well, look, I’m doing my movie. If you want me to work a week because you want to kill me or whatever else, I can give you a week.’ I really didn’t have that week to give them, but I said, I’ll do that. And then they [spun that] into, I only wanted to work a week.”

Fox News Digital’s Christina Dugan Ramirez and Emily Trainham contributed to this post.