“Easiest Season We’ve Filmed”– Luke Grimes Says Kevin Costner’s Absence Eased The Tension On Yellowstone’s Set

It appears that the cast of Yellowstone is finally allowed to get some stuff off their chest as the series officially wraps up. If you were one of the fans that was hoping the fifth season wouldn't actually be the western drama's finale season, I've got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that it has been confirmed that season five will be all she wrote for the flagship series. The good news? Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser are set to reprise their roles as Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler in a Yellowstone spinoff. The idea that the show won't go on - yet it will - has already been met with some mixed reviews online. And speaking of mixed reviews, Luke Grimes recently sat down with Esquire to talk about Yellowstone's final season, and he had some mixed feelings about Kevin Costner's exit from the show. Interestingly enough, Grimes, who plays Kayce Dutton, hasn't even watched the series himself. Grimes explained that was because he didn't want to try and enjoy the show while he was still a part of it: "I want to like the show, and I bet one day I will, but it was kind of hard to because I was still in it. I want to give it a couple years, just to cleanse the palate. Then I’ll go through all of it." I'm sure there are a lot of fans that would love to still have the entire Yellowstone series out in front of them (even though Grimes ultimately knows how things end up). The actor was later asked if he ever looked at the online discourse that followed the show if he wasn't actually watching it. Grimes admitted that he, for the most part, strayed away from looking on social media. Though when it came time for Costner to exit the show, he had to see how fans were reacting to it: "In the past, no, because it would have hurt my feelings. This year, I read a little bit of the fan reaction about John Dutton dying. I was just interested in how people were feeling about that, because I think we all had a pretty good idea that people weren’t going to like it very much. But I’m careful." Yeah its safe to say that longtime fans of the show were a tad upset about Costner's exit. However, in the mind of Luke Grimes, he felt as though Costner's will-he, won't-he nature towards the back half of season five, as well as his general presence on the set of Yellowstone, made things harder than they had to be. Of course, the tension between Kevin Costner and Taylor Sheridan has been well documented. But Grimes made sure to clarify he wasn't pointing fingers by saying it, but it sure seems like the man behind Kayce Dutton was somewhat relieved Costner didn't come back: "Hopefully everyone can see that it was time. 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. Not pointing any fingers, but it was actually the easiest season we’ve filmed." It certainly didn't make it any easier on Taylor Sheridan, the writer of the show, though some online have argued that the series has been better without Kevin Costner. Of course, Taylor shares some of the blame for the tension with Costner in the first place. And now, with only one episode left of the flagship Yellowstone series, all anyone can think about is whether the show will stick the landing. TV series can often be judged by how they handle their finale, and when Grimes was asked how he thinks fans will receive the show's conclusion, he didn't exactly give a promising answer: "At the rate we’re headed, I don’t think they’re going to be satisfied with anything. Some people will realize that it was very well written and well executed. But a large part will just be mad that it’s over, which is fair." He ain't wrong... The Yellowstone Series Finale airs this coming Sunday, December 15th, on Paramount Network. https://twitter.com/Yellowstone/status/1866596181444325661