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Jeff Bridges came close to ruling the Dutton ranch.
"Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan originally envisioned the Oscar winner as John Dutton before executives pushed for Kevin Costner.
"Because he had worked with Jeff on 'Hell or High Water' and he really liked him, and he thought he would be great," Kevin Kay, former top Paramount executive, explained during an appearance on "The Joint Venture Show."
But the conversation quickly shifted to another Hollywood heavyweight.
TAYLOR SHERIDAN SAYS HOLLYWOOD DIDN'T BELIEVE IN ‘YELLOWSTONE,’ NOT IT'S A TV EMPIRE
Jeff Bridges and Kevin Costner were both considered for the lead role in "Yellowstone." (Getty Images)
"And I was kind of like, 'Listen, he's a great actor, but I'm thinking about the marketing, and I'm thinking about the poster, and I'm thinking about who is going to be on a horse with a cowboy hat, and I'm not seeing Jeff Bridges," Kay admitted.
"Like, I could see Jeff Bridges, but then suddenly I was like, 'What about Costner? Can we get Costner?'" he recalled. "And we did get him."
Landing Costner, however, wasn't easy.
"It was painful because Kevin Costner doesn't like to do TV apparently," Kay said. "He's a movie actor."
"And he had done the 'Hatfields & McCoys' and he had a really bad experience," the TV executive claimed. "It was on A&E."
Jeff Bridges was considered as an option to portray John Dutton in "Yellowstone." (Getty Images)
There was a reason Costner had reservations about returning to the small screen.
"I think it was a low-budget thing, and he didn't have a great time, and he really did not want to do TV again," Kay said. "But I think he read the script and something about it appealed to him. And he said yes."
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Costner became one of Hollywood's biggest leading men in the late 1980s and early 1990s thanks to a string of blockbuster films before successfully reinventing himself for television as patriarch John Dutton on Paramount Network's hit Western drama "Yellowstone."
Kevin Costner is seen as John Dutton in "Yellowstone." (Paramount Network)
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Wes Bentley, Gil Birmingham, Kelly Reilly, Kevin Costner, Cole Hauser, Kelsey Asbille and Luke Grimes attend the premiere party for Paramount Network's "Yellowstone" Season 2 on May 30, 2019. (Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Costner helmed the series from the 2018 debut through the first half of Season 5. After months of speculation surrounding production delays and scheduling conflicts, he confirmed in 2024 that he would not return for the show's final episodes.
Costner has said the decision was driven by timing and his commitment to his ambitious four-part Western film series, "Horizon: An American Saga."