Kevin Costner’s exit made filming “really difficult” for the cast

One of the biggest television programs is back after almost two years.

“Yellowstone,” the hit Paramount Network drama, returns Sunday night for the second half of its fifth season. Still, the audience has been waiting for a new episode of the series since New Year’s Day 2023. During that time, Dutton family patriarch and “Yellowstone” star Kevin Costner left the show, which subsequently prompted major rewrites for the remainder of the season.

At the show’s carpet premiere on Thursday night at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the cast took to the red carpet for a reunion that felt like a joyous homecoming. Although the star of the show is now gone and it was only 48 hours after a controversial election day, the atmosphere was good among the core cast.

That said, they were honest about how things changed when they returned to the ranch after Costner’s departure and a long break between seasons. Luke Grimes, who plays Kayce, said it took a while to get back into the pace of the show.

“I found it very difficult to intervene again,” he says. “I’ve been playing this guy for a long time, but a two-year break… It’s hard to find the nuance again. Part of the way I did it was I waited until the last minute to read the last episode. I felt like this would hook me again, and it worked – I read the last episode and I was a mess. But then I felt like, ‘I remember who he is now!’”

Kelsey Asbille, who plays Kayce’s wife Monica, found gratitude in the fact that they were ultimately able to continue filming the series.

“We were so grateful to be back,” she says. “Especially after working on the show for so long, going back to ‘Yellowstone’ and coming home, there was a lot of joy in finishing the show strong.”

Judging from the gasps heard during the top-secret premiere screening after the red carpet, audiences will also be grateful that “Yellowstone” has returned.