Kevin Costner, 69, says he only wanted to do ONE season of Yellowstone but ended up doing five... as he announces he is never going back to the show

Kevin Costner says he only wanted to do one season of Yellowstone.

The 69-year-old actor announced last week he was leaving his role as John Dutton before the second half of the fifth and final series of the show to focus on other projects.

But he's now admitted he had never intended to stay with the project for so long anyway.

'Yellowstone was a great moment in my life,' he told Entertainment Tonight.

'I remember reading it, and thinking I wanted to do this. Maybe do one season or just one long movie, and ended up doing five [seasons].

Kevin Costner says he only wanted to do one season of Yellowstone. The 69-year-old actor announced last week he was leaving his role as John Dutton before the second half of the fifth and final series of the show to focus on other projects

'It was important for me to be able to do other things and, you know, try to make that work,' he added.

'But I just wasn't able to make it work.'

Kevin stressed he had had a 'wonderful' time working on the show and hopes it will be a big part of his legacy.

He said: 'I make movies and I'm a part of things that I think are gonna be really watchable. 

'That's what I want, to be for people to be surprised.

'And Yellowstone burst onto the scene and it was a surprise, and it was wonderful and it was good... and other characters were jumping off the screen, and that's what I want to be known for, you know?'

The award-winning star's focus is currently with his Western epic movie series, Horizon: An American Saga - of which the first movie, subtitled Chapter 1 is out later this month - and he hopes it will be must-see viewing for all ages.

But he's now admitted he had never intended to stay with the project for so long anywa

He told Entertainment Tonight: 'Yellowstone was a great moment in my life;' seen with Luke Grimes

'I remember reading it, and thinking I wanted to do this. Maybe do one season or just one long movie, and ended up doing five [seasons],' he added

Kevin - who co-wrote, directed and stars in the planned four-part story - said: 'Horizon, even though it's [rated] R, I want for people to go home and go, "You know what? I want to take the kids to see Horizon, because yes it's violent, but I want them to understand that's probably what happened to their great great grandmothers and grandfathers."'

Following months of speculation, the Bodyguard actor confirmed last week he won't be back for the final episodes of 'Yellowstone'.

He said in a video shared to Instagram: 'I just wanted to reach out and let you know that, after this long year-and-a-half of working on 'Horizon', and doing all the things that that's required, and thinking about 'Yellowstone' - that beloved series that I love, that I know you love - I just realized that I am not going to be able to continue season 5b, or into the future.'

L to R: Mo Brings Plenty as Rainwater's Driver, Gil Birmingham as Chief Thomas Rainwater, Cole Hauser as Rip Wheeler, Kevin Costner as John Dutton, Wes Bentley as Jamie Dutton