“If it’s not that hard, why can’t the two of you be able to work it out?” King asked Costner of his relationship with the show’s creator, Taylor Sheridan

Gayle King was looking to get some answers for Yellowstone fans, but Kevin Costner was not taking the bait.

In a new interview on CBS Mornings, King pushed the actor for clarity on his exit from the hit Paramount series as she questioned if he and the show’s creator Taylor Sheridan are “playing a game of ‘Whose [ego] is bigger?’”

“[People] say because of Horizon, it caused problems for you on Yellowstone,” she said, before questioning Costner and Sheridan’s dynamic. “People say this about the two of you: both big egos, both very powerful, both at the top of their game, and that right now, maybe you two are playing a game of whose is bigger? Do you see it that way? Whose is bigger, Kevin?”

“I love the show,” Costner, 69, responded. “I loved the show before anybody. It was Taylor and myself. The truth never changes – that love was really strong. The idea of going back – I would do that in a second if I felt that it was… If it was something that I could do, wanted to do, I would make it fit.”

Kevin Costner directed, wrote, produced and starred in the new Western film, “Horizon: An American Saga.”

He sat down with @gayleking last week to discuss his most ambitious project yet: “It’s going to be really not business as usual.” pic.twitter.com/yV5FAWGcx0

— CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) June 27, 2024

King, 69, pressed on why he and Sheridan haven’t been “able to work it out,” as she said that Costner’s “characterization” hasn’t been “flattering” in the aftermath of his exit.

“If it’s not that hard, why can’t the two of you be able to work it out?” she asked.

“This isn’t therapy, Gayle, I mean we’re not gonna discuss this on the show,” Costner replied, shutting the veteran journalist down.

King insisted she’s “a good therapist,” but Costner simply reiterated what he’s previously said about the series, noting he has “conducted my life in a pretty straightforward way” and has”never missed any obligations in my entire career.”

The actor similarly told PEOPLE that he “liked the people on the show. I liked what it was about. I love that world.”

However, “the scripts weren’t there,” and scheduling conflicts arose as he pursued his decades-long dream of making the multi-part Western epic, Horizon: An American Saga.

“There was a moment where that show for me stopped for 14 months… That’s the fact. I could have done a lot of things in that time, but I wasn’t aware that that [hold-up] was going to happen,” he recalled.

“In the very end, I couldn’t do any more for it than I had already done,” he said of his exit, adding that he was “disappointed” no one came to his defense amid the narrative that he was less committed to the show and demanding more money.

Following the announcement that the final part of season 5 of Yellowstone will premiere November 10, Costner confirmed in an Instagram video that he will not reprise his role as Dutton family patriarch John Dutton in the series’ final installment.

“Hi everyone. I just want 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’s required, and thinking about Yellowstone — that beloved series that I love — that I know you love. I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue Season 5b or into the future,” he said.

He noted that Yellowstone “was something that really changed me,” as he added, “I loved it, and I know you loved it. I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning.”