Photo by Johnny Nunez/Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Kevin Costner has confirmed that he has no more contractual obligations to the hit show Yellowstone amid reports that his character, patriarch John Dutton, will die during the second half of Season 5.

Costner is currently in the middle of a messy divorce from his wife of 18 years, Christine Baumgartner, and she is asking for $248,000 per month in child support. She lists Costner’s 2022 income as $19.5 million dollars, but in a legal response filed on June 28, Costner argues that he is on track to earn far less than that in 2023 because his participation in the hit show has come to an end.

“I will earn substantially less in 2023 than I did in 2022. This is because I am no longer under contract for Yellowstone, the principal source of my income last year,” the Oscar-winning actor and director states. “The fixed amount ‘pay or play’ and episodic compensation I received has ceased. Now, any compensation I earn from Yellowstone will derive only from my back-end contractual participation rights, which amounts are not fixed.”

Costner faced off with the producers of Yellowstone earlier in 2023 over his shooting schedule, which conflicted with another project called Horizon.

Sources say that Costner’s character will die towards the beginning of the second half of Season 5. Paramount has confirmed that the show Yellowstone will come to an end after the upcoming season.