'Yellowstone' star Luke Grimes gets blunt on Kevin Costner's exit: 'Easier' without 'conflict'
"Yellowstone" star Luke Grimes said there was less conflict filming the show after Kevin Costner's exit.
Luke Grimes wasn’t too sad when Kevin Costner left “Yellowstone.”
The 40-year-old actor who plays Kayce Dutton in the hit series got candid with Esquire about Costner’s controversial departure from the show.
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“Hopefully everyone can see that it was time,” Grimes said in the interview, which published Tuesday. “To be really honest, there was a part of Kevin being gone that meant some of the conflict was gone.”
“Obviously, it didn’t make it super fun to be around,” Grimes continued. “Not pointing any fingers, but it was actually the easiest season we’ve filmed.”
Costner left “Yellowstone” after filming only the first half of Season 5 and moved on to focus on his new Western film series, “Horizon.”
The Oscar winner has denied that he quit the show because of an alleged feud with creator Taylor Sheridan.
During the Season 5B premiere that aired Nov. 11, Costner’s John Dutton was murdered in a plot orchestrated by lawyer Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), sparking significant fan backlash.
Costner weighed in on John’s death on SiriusXM’s “The Michael Smerconish Program” and revealed that he didn’t get a heads up about his character’s fate.
“I didn’t see it. I heard it’s a suicide. That doesn’t make me wanna rush to go see it,” he said.