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Kevin Costner’s standoff with Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan reportedly had some interesting twists and turns this summer. While the 68-year-old actor was busy hashing out divorce details with his ex-wife Christine Baumgartner in court, he allegedly tried to work his way back to the Paramount + series.

The jaw-dropping details, reported by Puck News, indicate that Costner “engaged in a wild strike summer of covert efforts to re-engage with Paramount” and also made “aggressive demands” of Sheridan. So when the Oscar winner dropped the bomb in his divorce case that he was probably suing the studio, it was the result of his behind-the-scenes shenanigans to save his lucrative acting job. 

YELLOWSTONE, Kevin Costner, ‘I Want to Be Him’, (Season 4, ep. 406, aired Dec. 5, 2021).
Paramount Network/Courtesy Everett Collection.

The media outlet noted that “Costner’s reps were basically begging” the studio to reconsider having him return for the second half of the fifth season and then continue into the sixth and seventh seasons. Allegedly, he “really wanted back in” and Rod Lake, Costner’s producing partner, used the excuse that this was what the fans wanted, and it would also help promote the actor’s upcoming film, Horizon, which he mortgaged his $145 million estate for. 

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The next step was a “friendly” call from Costner to Sheridan that turned into a “list of demands” for more money, less time on set, and he wanted script approval. That’s where the negotiations ended because the actor’s ego was just too much for the Yellowstone crew to handle — Costner was in, then out, and then wanted back in. With his contentious divorce suddenly costing way more than he anticipated in legal bills, and Baumgartner not backing down on that front, Costner may have suddenly realized the cushy job that he had on Yellowstone wasn’t so bad after all. However, it sounds like that ship has sailed.

Before you go, click here to see the longest celebrity divorces that took years to get finalized.

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