During a new interview on Lil Wayne and Craig Carton's Joint Venture Podcast, former Paramount executive Kevin Kay reveals Taylor Sheridan's original plan for Yellowstone.

Kay explains that, when pitching the show, Sheridan envisioned Jeff Bridges as portraying the now-iconic patriarch, John Dutton, due to working with him on Hell or High Water.

Ultimately, of course, the role ended up going to Kevin Costner, with Kay suggesting that he was the one who proposed the idea of bringing him in instead of Bridges. He also jokes about how “painful” it was trying to convince Costner to return to TV, due to the Bodyguard star seeing himself as more of a “movie actor”.

When Carton brings up Yellowstone, which Kay green-lit, and asks if Costner was always attached to it, Kay responds, “No, Taylor wanted Jeff Bridges for the [Costner role, John Dutton]...because he'd worked with Jeff on Hell or High Water. But I'm thinking about the marketing, who is gonna be on a horse with a cowboy hat? Suddenly, I was like, ‘What about Costner? Can we get Costner?’ And we did get him”.

Carton then asks what that process of getting Costner on-board was like, to which Kay laughs, “It was painful! Because Kevin Costner doesn't like to do TV apparently. He's a movie actor. And he had done Hatfields & McCoys and he had a really bad experience...I think it was a low budget thing and he didn't have a great time”.

Kay goes on to stress that this meant he was initially deeply reluctant to get involved with Sheridan's Yellowstone, “And he really did not want to do TV again. But I think he read the script and something about it appealed to him. And he said yes.”

Kay recalls how Sheridan wrote the script during his off-time while filming Sons of Anarchy, which meant Paramount had the unusual pleasure of getting to read the whole script for the first episode, rather than the typical synopses and rough season sketch.

Now, of course, Yellowstone has blossomed into one of the most popular shows of the past ten years, with Sheridan crafting a host of successful spin-offs, such as 1883, 1923, The Madison, Marshals and - most recently - Dutton Ranch. The Madison, Marshals and Dutton Ranch have been renewed for second seasons.

It's hard to imagine what Yellowstone would have become without Costner. Bridges is undoubtedly a fantastic actor and is no stranger to the Western genre, as well as having his own country music career - much like Costner. But you can't help but feel it was Costner's depiction of John Dutton combined with Sheridan's visceral scriptwriting that glued Yellowstone together, with the final season of the show - which didn't feature Costner - feeling as though it was missing something.