Kevin Costner Begins Production on New Western Amid Yellowstone Season 5 Delay

By Nicole Drum

Kevin Costner is getting back to work, but it's not on the back half of Yellowstone's fifth season. Behind the scenes photos shared on Instagram (via ScreenRant) show work getting underway in Utah on the second installment of the film Horizon. Costner co-writes, produces, and directs the film. Work on the first part began in August 2022 and is set to consist of four films total, each shooting back-to-back. The project was initially announced in January 2022.

Horizon is described as a "passion project" for Costner and will span across 15 years, both before and after the Civil War expansion and settlement of the American West.

"America's expansion into the west was one that was fraught with peril and intrigue from the natural elements to the interactions with the indigenous peoples who lived on the land, and the determination and at many times ruthlessness of those who sought to settle it," Costner said in a statement at the time. "'Horizon' tells the story of that journey in an honest and forthcoming way, highlighting the points of view and consequences of the characters' life and death decisions." 

While there aren't a lot of details about this latest work on Horizon, the images come as plans for the second half of Yellowstone's fifth season are a bit of a question mark. Yellowstone aired its midseason finale earlier this year and, at the time, it was announced that the series would return this summer with the rest of the season. Production on the episodes was expected to begin this spring, but it rumors began to surface of behind-the-scenes drama, particularly with Costner. It was previously reported that there has been friction between series creator Taylor Sheridan and Costner about the show's shooting schedule and recently, the show's panel at PaleyFest didn't exactly go as planned when only four members of the cast failed to appear.  It was reported that "scheduling conflicts" were to blame for the issues. Costner has denied the rumors.

At this time, it's unclear when production on Yellowstone will resume, though series executive producer Stephen Kay has recently said that he hopes it will resume soon.

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"Taylor is in Texas spinning hay into gold and we're hoping, we're hoping we'll do it soon," Kay said. "Everybody's excited."

Are you hoping that Yellowstone will return for Season 5 soon? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section.

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