“He is one of the best American writers”: One Yellowstone Actor Had Nothing But Respect for the Taylor Sheridan Show and Still Got Sued by Him
Besides the worldwide popularity of the show for its content, Yellowstone has also witnessed several off-screen dramas that include legal battles. The show faced a prominent legal battle when creator Taylor Sheridan filed a lawsuit against actor Cole Hauser’s coffee company.
Cole Hauser plays a fan-favorite character Rip Wheeler in the Paramount Network series created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson. Both Hauser and Sheridan own coffee companies. The show reached a complicated position when the latter tried to sue Hauser as he had a similar logo for his coffee company.
Last year in December, it was reported that the renowned American writer cum producer Taylor Sheridan filed a lawsuit against actor Cole Hauser. The Yellowstone fans were shocked as Hauser’s Rip Wheeler was a fan-favorite character and was himself an ardent fan of the critically acclaimed show.
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In an interview with The Havok Journal, when asked about his introduction to the show, Cole Hauser admitted that he had been old friends with co-creator John Linson. He spoke highly about Linson and also admitted that he wanted to work with him for a long time.
John Linson and I have known each other for almost twenty years… I meet him when I was in my early twenties. We have always wanted to do something together. This one just worked out, everything just lined up. He sent me the script and I looked at it. In my opinion he is one of the best American writers.
Unfortunately, Taylor Sheridan did not have a very good time with the actor as his co-creator. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the producer filed a lawsuit against Hauser’s Free Rein Coffee company for “trademark infringement, unfair competition and false advertising”.
Sheridan claimed that Free Rein‘s logo resembled his Bosque Ranch company’s logo. To be precise Free Rein has an intertwined ‘FR’ logo while Bosque Ranch has an intertwined ‘BR’.
The Tulsa King creator’s suit claimed that Free Rein‘s logo was “confusingly similar” to his brand logo. It was also added that Hauser’s brand was allegedly trying to “mistake or to deceive as to the affiliation, connection, or association” with the ranch. This legal drama created a huge buzz among the fandom regarding the future of Rip Wheeler.
Wheeler was a fan-favorite character and nobody wanted to lose him. Nevertheless, the issue was soon resolved when Bosque Ranch “voluntarily dismissed” its lawsuit against Free Reins (via Express). Although Sheridan managed to tackle this issue, he is reportedly not looking forward to mending his issues with Kevin Costner.
Kevin Costner has been one star in Yellowstone. He earned a massive sum of $500,000 per episode as John Dutton in the show. It was reported in late 2023 that Costner will not be reprising his hit role in the show’s much-awaited last outing.
Industry Insider Matt Belloni said in The Town podcast that the scripts have been written and everything is sorted but John Dutton “is not going to be in those episodes”. He parted ways with the show after a heated dispute with Taylor Sheridan.
According to Daily Express US, the Oscar-winner left the show for his passion project Horizon: An American Saga. Unfortunately, it has scored disastrous critical reviews and the actor is reportedly trying to get back to the series by “begging” Sheridan.y
Kevin burned his bridges at Yellowstone. But now that his world is crumbling around him, I hear he’s considering begging Taylor to take him back!
Kevin Costner was confident that his Yellowstone track record could help him to get success in his high-budget passion project. But given the reported disruption he had caused in the production, it is unlikely that he would be back. Several reports claim that his character would have an off-screen closure in the final part of the series.
