Fans Are Threatening to Boycott "Yellowstone"—Here's Why

The Yellowstone cast was slated to attend PaleyFest.

Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan and executive producer David Glasser were expected to make an appearance at the PaleyFest TV festival on Saturday, along with several of the leads, including Kevin Costner (who plays patriarch John Dutton and is also an executive producer), Kelly Reilly, Luke Grimes, Wes Bentley, Kelsey Asbille, Cole Hauser, and Gil Birmingham, USA Today reported.

In what seemed like a grand April Fools' Day joke, none of these stars appeared at the April 1 event, which was held at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. In fact, only four of the show's actors did show up: Josh Lucas, Wendy Moniz, Mo Brings Plenty, and Dawn Olivieri.

Fans had paid to attend PaleyFest and hear the main cast speak, shelling out roughly $100 per ticket, so the absence of so many of Yellowstone's key players was not easily forgiven.

Fans were outraged about the last-minute change.

Variety reported that the press was informed of the lineup change just 30 minutes before the stars were expected to walk the red carpet. The list of attendees wasn't ever updated on the PaleyFest website, and when the panel began, fans booed when the stars didn't show up on stage.

"Yeah as someone who paid over $100 a ticket I'm pretty [expletive] pissed," a fan tweeted on Saturday. "Quite the bait and switch. People are walking out."

One attendee responded and said that while they were appreciative of the actors who did attend, the event was a let-down. "Truly a surprise... felt bad for actors that showed up. But that's not [what] we paid for... #paleyfest #Yellowstone let us all down!!!" the fan tweeted.

According to Variety, the stars didn't attend "due to scheduling conflicts."

Best Life has learned that if fans are disappointed, they can email customercare@paleycenter.org, and a representative will reach out to them directly.

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Some fans took things a step further.

One attendee dubbed the Yellowstone event "a joke and rip off," calling for a refund.

"No slight to the actors who were there, but @paleycenter should offer refunds for the @Yellowstone program tonight," another tweeted, including a screenshot of the event page. "Not a single person, not one, who was listed was actually there."

However, others pointed the finger at the Yellowstone actors, and said they may stop watching the show as a result of the PaleyFest drama.

"These actors think they’re great, but the fans are what make the show," a viewer tweeted on April 2. "You would not have a show without us! I say we all stop watching it and screw it. We’ll see where you all end up in five years. No money and no show. Good luck."

Another tweeted, "Boycott Yellowstone, too good for the people who supported the show."

The behind-the-scenes Yellowstone drama is ongoing.

The PaleyFest fiasco follows rumors about the show coming to a sudden close: On Feb. 6, Deadline reported that Yellowstone could end due to disagreements over Costner's schedule. The actor reportedly wanted to reduce his filming commitment from 65 days to 50 days for the first half of the fifth season, which premiered in November. For the second half of the season, the show's lead actor allegedly asked to film for just one week.

Costner's attorney has vehemently denied these claims, Fox News reported. Paramount Network also denied that Costner would be leaving the show.

According to People, during the PaleyFest panel, Keith Cox, president of development and production for Paramount Network, addressed Costner's role, stating, "What I can say is our star, the face of our show and the executive producer, [we] are very confident he's going to continue with our show."

The statement was met with a round of applause—but that's not to say Costner will be part of the Yellowstone universe forever. According to Josh Lucas, he believes Sheridan "always planned on at some point, having Kevin die and having multiple characters die."

"And so you know that that's just the way of the story ... the evolution of what the ranch is," Lucas, who plays young John Dutton, said, per People. "That's why when you see the cemetery and you see the names of Elsa and you see the names of Jacob and you see these names, I think it's of course going to evolve and change. And I think that's what hopefully people will really like as it goes. I don't know, Taylor can tell a story about the future for all we know."

Filming still hasn't begun for the second half of Season 5.

While fans were (somewhat) reassured about Costner's role, filming for the second half of Season 5 still hasn't begun. During the panel, Cox told the audience that a start date for production would be announced "soon," and that he's confident the episodes "will be phenomenal," per USA Today.

On the other hand, a Yellowstone spinoff starring Matthew McConaughey was just greenlit, Paramount Media Networks President and CEO Chris McCarthy confirmed on April 1, Fox News reported. In February, Deadline speculated that this spinoff would replace the flagship show, with "several of the big stars" moving to the new series.

According to Fox News, McCarthy didn't provide updates on Costner's role in the original Yellowstone series, but said that the spinoff is moving forward whether or not the OG John Dutton continues with his role on the original series.