‘Yellowstone’ star Luke Grimes admits ‘none of us saw’ Kevin Costner’s exit coming

With the final episodes of “Yellowstone” set to be released, Luke Grimes admits the cast was in the dark about Kevin Costner’s exit.

Grimes, who portrays Kayce Dutton in “Yellowstone,” told Fox News Digital that the cast always figured they would end the show without Costner’s character, John Dutton, but the way it played out, “none of us saw it coming. “

“I think we knew from the very beginning that the end of the show at some point was going to be without Kevin. That’s just where it was going,” Grimes said.

“Season one, he was sick and you thought you were going to lose him then. And you know, the story was always going to be when the patriarch is gone, when the big powerful presence is gone — do the kids have what it takes to keep this thing in walk?”

“None of us ever knew when it was going to happen or how. And then, you know, it happened in a way that I guess none of us, you know, saw coming. But we prepared everyone on it at one point and you know whose character is doing what and it was really fun to be on that journey with the audience,” he continued.

“It happened in a way that I suppose none of us, you know, saw coming.”

—Luke Grimes

Grimes explained that he had been “a little disappointed” that the “Yellowstone” cast was unaware that Costner would not be returning to finish the fifth season.

“I was probably a little disappointed that we didn’t know he wasn’t going to be back,” he began. “I think it could have been a better goodbye if we had done it a different way. It was, you know, it was more of a surprise than anything else.”

“But like I said, it’s above my grade. And our job is just to show up and do what’s on the page and do it to the best of our ability,” Grimes said.

In June, Costner said People he had been “disappointed” with how the rumors surrounding his exit were handled by production.

“I loved the show. I liked the people on the show. I liked what it was about. I love that world,” he said at the time.

WATCH: ‘Yellowstone’ star Luke Grimes admits ‘none of us saw’ Kevin Costner’s exit coming

After the first half of the fifth season was broadcast at the end of last year, the program took a break in connection with the holidays. They were set to return to the recordings at the top of the new year, but it was pushed back to sometime this summer.

While Costner was ready to proceed, he said, “the scripts weren’t there.” “There was a moment when that show for me stopped for 14 months… That’s the fact,” he said. “I could have done a lot of things at that time, but I didn’t realize that (quitting) was going to happen.”

Prior to the news that Paramount Network was releasing the final episodes of season five on November 10, Costner said he had been well aware of the online buzz surrounding his exit and that he was not thrilled about lack of support from production.

“I read all the stories,” he said. “I was disappointed that no one on their side … ever came forward to defend what it was that I actually did for them. There came a moment when I thought, ‘Wow, when is someone going to say something about, what have I done versus what haven’t I done?”

Despite the disappointment, Costner told the outlet that he would still be interested in returning and tying up any loose ends.

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“I’ve always felt that … it could be an interesting moment to come back and finish the mythology of this modern family,” he said in June. “And if that happens, I would step into it if I agreed with how it was done.”

“At the end of the day, I couldn’t do more about it than I had already done,” he added.

“Yellowstone” follows the Dutton family through years of trying to save their family ranch in Montana. The star-studded cast included Costner as well as Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser and Wes Bentley.

Although the series was set to end after season five, talks are underway for a sixth season of the Paramount show, Deadline reported.

No deals have been made, sources told the magazine in August, but “Yellowstone” will likely continue to star Hauser and Reilly. Costner will not appear in the second half of season five.

WATCH: ‘Yellowstone’ star Luke Grimes says Kevin Costner’s exit from hit show was a surprise

In August, Fox News Digital contacted Paramount about the report, but a representative for the company declined to comment.

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Kelsey Asbille, who plays Kayce Dutton’s love interest, Monica, on “Yellowstone,” told Fox News Digital that she is not in the loop about a potential sixth season. “You’re asking me the hard question. I don’t know. I don’t know anything,” she explained.

Asbille shared some insight into what fans can expect with the final episodes of “Yellowstone.”

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“It’s a really big season and we, I mean, we’re coming in hot on Sunday night. Luke (Grimes) said we’re coming in ten, so yeah, I just hope they love it. I’m just sorry, we kept you waiting and we hope you love it as much as we do,” Asbille said.

The final episodes of season five of “Yellowstone” will premiere on Paramount+ on November 10.