Between 2018 and 2024, Yellowstone was one of the biggest and most successful serial dramas on television. But that wasn’t the original plan for the show sold to its lead star, Kevin Costner. In fact, it was originally pitched as a limited series with a narrower scope for the story of the Dutton family.

Costner, who ended up fronting Yellowstone’s cast for almost all of its five-season run, initially believed he was signing on for a one-year TV project. However, the show soon expanded into a multi-season drama, and continued to grow in scope along with its viewership, even spawning two prequel series and further upcoming spinoffs.

Many of Yellowstone’s best episodes wouldn’t have happened had co-creator and writer Taylor Sheridan not strayed from his initial plan for a limited series. Still, the neo-Western streaming behemoth became a very different show from the one Costner agreed to star in back in 2017.

Yellowstone Was Originally Pitched To Kevin Costner As A “Long Movie”

It Would Have Been A Limited Series Made In The Style Of Costner’s Own Westerns

In a 2024 interview with People, Costner recalled how Yellowstone had first been described to him. Taylor Sheridan’s original vision for the show chimed with the legendary actor-director’s own sensibilities. As Costner put it:

“When it was first pitched to me by Taylor, it was one season and [like] a long movie, which [is] speaking my language… but ultimately, I think what happened was the studio didn’t want that. And because he’s such a prolific writer, he said, ‘I can do that. I can make a series that goes on’.”

Kevin Costner’s own Western movies tend to be sprawling epics that take their time telling stories with a combination of grace and grit. It’s easy to see why he was so taken with Sheridan’s idea for a slow-burning limited series about the Dutton ranch.

If Yellowstone were Costner’s creation, he would likely have insisted on making the show this way, regardless of any studio demands. But Taylor Sheridan probably wasn’t in a position to argue with studio executives at the time, having already been rejected by HBO when he brought them his idea for the series.