“A Year Later, the Real Issue With Yellowstone Season 5 Wasn’t Kevin Costner’s Departure”
A Year Later, the Real Issue With Yellowstone Season 5 Wasn’t Kevin Costner’s Departure
When Yellowstone Season 5 first aired, all eyes were on the drama behind the scenes — particularly the rumored tension between star Kevin Costner and creator Taylor Sheridan. Costner’s uncertain future with the show dominated headlines, leading many to assume his potential exit was the main reason the season felt uneven. But a year later, it’s clear that the real issue ran deeper than any single actor’s departure.
Season 5 suffered from something far more fundamental: a lack of focus. What once felt like a gripping modern Western about land, family, and legacy began to lose its sense of direction. The sprawling Dutton family drama started to meander, weighed down by too many subplots and an ever-expanding cast of characters who never quite got the development they deserved.
While Costner’s reduced screen time didn’t help, the storytelling itself felt like it was caught in limbo. The pacing slowed to a crawl, and the stakes that once defined Yellowstone seemed to vanish amid political tangents and half-resolved conflicts. Even the show’s trademark intensity — those sharp, explosive confrontations between characters — gave way to long stretches of exposition and setup for future spin-offs.
That’s not to say there weren’t strong moments. The cinematography remained breathtaking, and the performances — particularly from Kelly Reilly (Beth) and Wes Bentley (Jamie) — carried much of the emotional weight. But without a clear narrative drive, Yellowstone Season 5 often felt like a series preparing for its own ending rather than delivering another chapter in the saga of the Duttons.
In hindsight, Kevin Costner’s departure may have symbolized a turning point, but it wasn’t the show’s undoing. The real problem was that Yellowstone lost sight of what made it compelling in the first place — the sharp storytelling, moral tension, and ruthless family loyalty that made audiences fall in love with it.
As fans await the final episodes, one question remains: can Taylor Sheridan bring Yellowstone back to its roots before the curtain falls on the Dutton dynasty?
