Fresh off his Yellowstone exit, Kevin Costner is ditching roles that don’t move him and pivoting to passion projects—starting with a new documentary series.
Kevin Costner is not moping around after Yellowstone. He is moving on, pretty decisively, and putting his energy into stuff that actually matters to him. And yes, that includes a brand-new history docuseries he is fronting.
Post-Yellowstone, Costner is picking projects for himself
In a new Radio Times chat, Costner made it clear he is done hanging around on things that do not keep him interested. He played John Dutton on Yellowstone, but that era is over, and he is only signing onto work that feels personal. Also, despite the cowboy brand, he is not limiting himself to Westerns.
‘I am willing to do anything where I feel like what I am doing is for myself… When something is no longer interesting to me, or there is some other reason I need to move on, I am willing to do that.’
He also talked about the long tail of storytelling. In his view, a short story, a novel, even a short film can outlive their moment if they are told the right way. The point, to him, is resonance: the work sticks because people can relate to it, and some books keep traveling through generations for exactly that reason.
There is a practical side to this too. Costner wants to stay relevant — not by guessing what audiences want, but by making things that honestly reflect his sensibility and letting people find them. It is a very him answer: stubborn in a good way.
The new project: Kevin Costner’s The West
All of this lines up neatly with the release of his latest passion project, an eight-episode documentary series that digs into the real history of the American frontier instead of the glossy postcard version.
- Title: Kevin Costner’s The West
- Format: Eight-part documentary series
- Where to watch: Sky HISTORY and NOW
- Executive producers: Kevin Costner and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Focus: The American West, with an emphasis on what actually happened — conflict, cultural clashes, and the treatment of Native Americans — not the romanticized myth
That last bit is important. Costner says the series tries to strip away the rose-colored lens and get into the real struggles of the era. Coming right after Yellowstone, launching a history series about the West is very on-brand — but the way he frames it, he is chasing stories that stick, not just saddles and sunsets.
