‘Yellowstone’: Josh Lucas on Kevin Costner Rumors & Matthew McConaughey Spin-Off (Exclusive)

“Yellowstone” star Josh Lucas spoke to “Extra’s” Melvin Robert at PaleyFest L.A. 2023 about Kevin Costner’s future on the show and his thoughts on the now-confirmed Matthew McConaughey-led spin-off!

Rumors have swirled about Costner hanging up his “Yellowstone” hat, and now the talk has kicked into high gear after Kevin, all of the main cast, and showrunner Taylor Sheridan skipped the show’s fan event at PaleyFest.

Josh plays a younger version of Kevin’s character John Dutton, and spoke about Costner’s busy schedule as the Oscar winner directs and stars in a new movie called “Horizon.”

“Kevin's directing a movie that he's very passionate about which has is its own demands,” Josh said. “You know, Kevin is a very unusual actor in that way, where he's… telling a massive story himself, so I think the collision right now is just the idea that he's busy and Taylor's busy and so everyone's sort of in a waiting game and… that's as much as I know.”

Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Costner wanted to shoot all of his upcoming “Yellowstone” scenes in just five days so he could focus on his film. His lawyer, Marty Singer, however, denied those rumors and called them “ridiculous.”

Have they started shooting the second half of Season 5? Josh shared, “We've not. I mean, we're all waiting now for Taylor to deliver the scripts… He's a one-man band.”

Lucas continued, “It is his story, meaning each one of these stories comes from his family, comes from the cowboys that he works with and knows, from his parents and grandparents and everybody, so, you know, he's telling each piece of it and I think he gets focused on, you know, the Kevin Costner version or then suddenly he's focused on ‘1883’ and right now ‘Bass Reeves,’ which could be pretty incredible as well.”

As for the MConaughey spin-off and whether he will be a part of it, Lucas said, “I would love to… Matthew, I think, knows Taylor — he's from Texas. He knows this world in a way, as well. You know, these are authentic cowboys — really, truly — and I think that's what Taylor demands. He demands that you know horses and you know the land and you know the world that he's creating, so I know that Taylor has ideas that he's pulling together, but you never know what they are.”

He continued, “Part of the joy of it is, like, we all talk about the second you get one of these scripts… You know, you're driving along, you get a ping on your phone, you pull over because you're so excited to read it and see what's going to happen.”