Kevin Costner is a Hollywood legend best known for his Oscar winning epic Western: Dances With Wolves. Of course, there are more strings to Kevin Costner‘s bow than that one genre, but the man himself is happy to be identified with Westerns because he just loves them so much.
It was because of that love that Costner joined the Yellowstone cast as the Montanan Vito Corleone, John Dutton. Dutton is the patriarch of the Dutton and leading man of the Yellowstone cast, protecting it with an iron (or, more aptly, leather) fist. Because of the nature of the show, Costner really gets to flex his cowboy muscles, mostly by riding a lot of horses across the stunning Montana landscape.
But why, exactly, does Costner love a Western so much? It’s actually very simple, as he explained to Good Morning America back when Yellowstone first launched.
“Obviously it’s the outdoors,” grumbled Costner. “When I was seven I saw this movie… I looked [at it] and I thought, ‘This is where I need to be.’ That [feeling] never stopped. We see these places in the world, and they stop us.”
One of those places is, undoubtedly, Montana: the stage for Yellowstone. Montana is almost a part of the Yellowstone cast in its own right, as the fight for its landscape dominates the central plot of the show.
The way it changes and shifts through the seasons, captured by some gorgeous cinematography, is just as engrossing as the unfolding drama. Sometimes, when John Dutton leans on his fence and stares out at the mountains, we get it.
Even though Costner is leaving Yellowstone, his time with Westerns is far from over. His new movie series Horizon, is also a Western, so we can expect plenty more of the actor in a saddle, even if it isn’t as Mr Dutton.
For more on Yellowstone, check out why we first hated the Yellowstone movie. Or, learn about the Yellowstone season 5 part 2 release date and the 1923 season 2 release date. You can also take a look at our picks for the best TV series of all time, and see what’s new on Paramount Plus.