Is ‘Yellowstone’ a Soap Opera? Kevin Costner Seems to Think So

The ever-popular series Yellowstone is certainly loaded with drama, but is it considered a soap opera like Kevin Costner suggests? The actor stopped by The Armchair Expert podcast with Dax Shepherd recently to talk about his upcoming project, Horizon: An American Saga, when the conversation turned to the Taylor Sheridan-penned show.

Costner shares why he took on the role of the Dutton family patriarch, John Dutton, and how he had to step outside of reality a bit to do so.

"Yellowstone was just a really great script," he states matter of factly.

"I just believed in the world — I knew it was a soap opera," he continues. "I knew we should all be in jail, we've all killed people there. And so you throw logic out the window, right? A little bit."

The Oscar winner goes on to praise Sheridan's writing.

"He has a great ear, and he just wrote that stuff really authentically and it was good fun," he explains. "And he wrote my part especially well and Kelly's part, so listen, I had a lot of fun with it."

"I was really good. I recognized that, so I did it the best I could possibly do it," he adds.

Is Yellowstone a Soap Opera?

To know if Yellowstone is a soap opera, one must first know the definition of one. Merriam-Webster describes a soap opera as "a serial drama performed originally on a daytime radio or television program and chiefly characterized by tangled interpersonal situations and melodramatic or sentimental treatment."

The Paramount series certainly involves a ton of interpersonal situations and is often melodramatic or sentimental, so by that definition it's safe to say that Yellowstone is a soap opera. Or, at the very least, a prime-time television drama.

Kevin Costner Did Not Commit to All of Yellowstone

Early on Costner was committed to being a part of what was initially supposed to be one long season of the show. Sheridan has some similar limited series even within the Yellowstone universe. For example, 1883 was only one long season, and it looks like 1923 will be just two seasons.

However, the talks quickly turned into a seven-season series with the idea of Costner being at the helm for its entirety.

"I thought it was just going to be one long one — I'm into long," he says. "But then it turned out it was going to be a series. They first said to me, 'You want to be in seven?' I said no, that ain't happening. 'Well, five?' It ain't happening."

"I didn't want to bait and switch — I said I would do it. So I said, 'I'll give you three,' and then I ended up making five."

The actor also revealed that he believed the show was good enough to carry on without him. However, after some behind-the-scenes conflict between he and Sheridan while working on Season 5, Paramount has announced that the show will not continue without Costner and instead will end after the second half of Season 5 airs this fall.

Production has already begun for the show's final episodes. It's unclear whether Costner is a part of filming or not.

Jess hosts the syndicated radio show, Taste of Country Weekend, which can be heard on country stations nationwide. Tune in for all of the best new country music, spotlights on new tracks and emerging artists, plus Double-Downs on all of your favorites. The weekend is always better with a little Taste of Country in it.