Kevin Costner Opens Up About Leaving Uninspiring Projects and Embracing New Documentary Series
Kevin Costner on Leaving ‘Uninspiring’ Projects and Telling Honest Stories in His New Documentary Series
“When something is no longer interesting to me, or there’s some other reason that I need to move on, I’m willing to do that,” says Kevin Costner — a statement that sums up the next chapter of his storied career.
The Academy Award-winning actor, long synonymous with Western films, reached a new peak in public attention with his portrayal of John Dutton in Yellowstone, the hit Paramount+ series. Costner starred from the show’s debut through the first part of its fifth season, before stepping away to focus on his passion project: the Horizon film series. His character was later written out of Yellowstone off-screen.
Now, Costner returns to the screen in a different role — as the face of a new eight-part documentary series, Kevin Costner’s The West. Reflecting on his career, Costner spoke candidly about how he chooses his projects today.
“I’m willing to do anything where I feel like what I’m doing is for myself,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be a Western — it could be something else. But when something is no longer interesting to me, or there’s another reason I need to move on, I’m willing to do that.”
Costner emphasized his commitment to creating work that’s authentic to him, even if it doesn’t always guarantee mass appeal. “I think you can write a short story and it can live forever. You can write a novel and it can live forever. You can make a short movie and it can live forever,” he explained. “It’s about how you’re telling it — if people can relate to it. That’s why certain books continue to live with us and get passed down to our children.”
For Costner, staying relevant means staying true to himself. “I can’t create work that I think is going to find people. I can only create work that, when they do find it, reflects what I was feeling and my sensibility. And hopefully, they’re moved by it.”
Since his departure from Yellowstone, the original series has concluded, with multiple spin-offs currently in development to continue the franchise. But Costner’s focus has shifted toward deeper storytelling — particularly with The West, which he executive produced alongside historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.
The documentary aims to deliver a fresh perspective on the American West, exploring the struggle over land and how it continues to shape the United States today.
Reflecting on the era often glamorized in film, Costner said the documentary affirms the truths he tried to portray in earlier works like Dances with Wolves, Open Range, and Horizon.
“When we first started making Westerns, people fell in love with the imagery,” he said. “They couldn’t believe how big and beautiful the country was. With music and someone on a horse, we just wanted to keep seeing that image.”
“But we didn’t think about how those towns came to be, or the hardships involved. We romanticized what we saw. The reality — the exploration, the inch-by-inch confrontations that often ended in blood — was mostly ignored.”
Costner added: “People didn’t want to see the slaughter, the fear, or the cultural clashes. The romantic idea of heroism was easier to accept.”
According to Costner, the stories in The West align with the truths he tried to tell through fiction. “Everything that happened in Dances with Wolves, Open Range, or Horizon — those things actually happened. I didn’t invent those stories out of nothing. The interactions they’re based on happened a million times.”
“There were slaves. There were captives. Native Americans were misled and pushed aside for our own gain — again and again, from one shore to the other,” he said. “The Westerns I made, in my mind, are honest and real. And in many ways, this documentary series supports that truth.”
