Kevin Costner was right to quit Yellowstone for Horizon

When Kevin Costner stepped away from Yellowstone to make Horizon, his four-part Western epic, eyebrows were raised — but it might just prove his star power above all else.

Leaving behind one of the most successful TV shows of the past decade to make a four-part Western saga that nobody asked for (and probably won’t turn a major profit) is the kind of decision that makes Kevin Costner a star in my eyes.

As the lead of the Yellowstone cast, Costner was the driving force that brought Taylor Sheridan’s Dutton-verse to life. When HBO was in negotiations for the series, they originally “didn’t see” Costner as John Dutton and tried to steer Sheridan away. Despite this, numerous spinoffs and projects currently in development might very well not have happened if not for Costner’s casting.

With a cast otherwise lacking star power, Costner’s status as the Dutton family patriarch has been the show’s hook since the beginning. Why? Because Costner is one of the last true Hollywood stars. And he’s done it all by flopping.

On the Horizon

There are various other rumors as to why Costner opted to depart from Yellowstone, but Horizon: An American Saga seemed to be at the center of it. Costner will be co-writing, directing, and starring in the four-part historical epic, which will explore the Old West amid the ongoing Civil War.

It’s a massive undertaking — and some would argue a misguided one, at that. Chapters 1 and 2 are said to have had a $100 million budget, with Costner even mortgaging one of his properties to make up some of the cost. And all this for a movie in a genre that audiences aren’t even gunning for anymore.

The most recent film that Horizon can be compared to is 2023’s Killers of the Flower Moon, Scorsese’s three-and-a-half-hour Western drama, which cost $200 million and earned $156 million at the global box office.

Of course, Killers was released primarily on Apple TV+, but the sentiment is the same: getting audiences in for a long-haul historical piece is tough. Which is why, ultimately, Kevin Costner has the biggest star attitude of anyone else working today.

Costner’s flop era

Famously, Costner has starred in some real duds, both financially and critically. 1991’s Robin Hood made its money back, but the adventure movie (and Costner personally) ended up on the receiving end of some harsh criticism. In 1992, The Bodyguard made bank at the box office, but crashed and burned on the critical front, resulting in a Razzie nomination for Costner as the co-lead.

Meanwhile, 1995’s Waterworld is considered to be one of the biggest flops of all time, despite being one of the highest-grossing films during that year (it still wasn’t enough to make back its monstrous budget.) The Postman, released in 1997, fell hard. On a budget of $80 million, it only made $20.8 million at the box office, and was panned across the board.

Of course, it’s easy to point to the failures. But many of these films have become an integral (and, quite frankly, iconic) part of Costner’s legacy.

A post-Dutton dawn

Waterworld has since made back its money through home video sales, and is probably one of the most talked-about movies of all time. The Bodyguard stands as one of the most well-known romance movies ever and blessed us with Whitney Houston’s version of ‘I Will Always Love You’. Even when Costner falls, he flies.

Paramount

He takes on the projects he wants and abandons those he gets tired of (sorry, Yellowstone). Horizon is the ultimate passion project, and nobody was going to stop him from making it. And writing it. …And starring in it.

This is the man who ditched one of the most-watched cable shows of the 2020s to see through the most ambitious project in recent memory. This is the man who directed The Postman, but who also directed Dances With Wolves, one of the greatest Westerns of all time. A good business decision or not, Costner will do what he wants, and it’s usually (strangely) always worked in his favor in the long run.

Getting audiences in for two lengthy, old-fashioned tales of the Old West not once but twice in a year seems like an extravagant dream. But watch it or don’t watch it — Costner probably doesn’t care if you do.