Between 2018 and 2024, Yellowstone was one of the biggest and most successful serial dramas on television. But that wasn’t the original

plan for the show sold to its lead star, Kevin Costner. In fact, it was originally pitched as a limited series with a narrower scope for the story of the Dutton family.

Costner, who ended up fronting Yellowstone’s cast for almost all of its five-season run, initially believed he was signing on for a one-year TV project. However, the show soon expanded into a multi-season drama, and continued to grow in scope along with its viewership, even spawning two prequel series and further upcoming spinoffs.

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Many of Yellowstone’s best episodes wouldn’t have happened had co-creator and writer Taylor Sheridan not strayed from his initial plan for a limited series. Still, the neo-Western streaming behemoth became a very different show from the one Costner agreed to star in back in 2017.

In a 2024 interview with People, Costner recalled how Yellowstone had first been described to him. Taylor Sheridan’s original vision for the show chimed with the legendary actor-director’s own sensibilities. As Costner put it:

Kevin Costner’s own Western movies tend to be sprawling epics that take their time telling stories with a combination of grace and grit. It’s easy to see why he was so taken with Sheridan’s idea for a slow-burning limited series about the Dutton ranch.

If Yellowstone were Costner’s creation, he would likely have insisted on making the show this way, regardless of any studio demands. But Taylor Sheridan probably wasn’t in a position to argue with studio executives at the time, having already been rejected by HBO when he brought them his idea for the series.

Kevin Costner Was On Board With Yellowstone Having More Than One Season
He Signed On To Star In 3 Seasons Of The Show & Stayed For 5
Ultimately, things have worked out better than Taylor Sheridan could possibly have imagined when he first shopped his pitch for Yellowstone around to various studios, and asked Kevin Costner to play its lead role. The show’s 53-episode run has made it one of the most successful neo-Westerns in history, and laid the basis for an entire TV universe.

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As Costner has alluded to, Sheridan is capable of scripting dozens of TV episodes per year virtually by himself, so expanding Yellowstone into a franchise with multiple shows and seasons was never a problem for him. The show’s main writer doesn’t seem to have been too attached to the idea of making it a limited series.

By the time he was done playing John Dutton, the character had become one of the most iconic roles in Costner’s storied acting career.

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Regardless of its expansion, Yellowstone retained the cinematic visual style Sheridan had first envisioned for it. What’s more, Kevin Costner was very open to the series continuing for multiple seasons. In his words, he “stepped up,” and said, “I’ll do it for three seasons.”

When Yellowstone became a huge small-screen hit, its main star was more than happy to carry on playing the show’s chief protagonist. “I ended up doing it for five [seasons],” he added. By the time he was done playing John Dutton, the character had become one of the most iconic roles in Costner’s storied acting career.