Luke Grimes candidly spoke on his experience filming the rest of the long-awaited Yellowstone Season 5, hinting that there may have been more drama behind the scenes than fans may know.

Kevin Costner famously exited the series before filming on Season 5 wrapped because the production delays were beginning to impede on his passion project, Horizon: An American Saga. But his exit caused the show to go on hiatus as series creator Taylor Sheridan reworked the scripts for Season 5, Part 2, to account for the end of Costner’s John Dutton.

Grimes did not share too many details in his recent interview with Esquire about his experience on set with Costner, but he surprisingly claimed that this was the “easiest” season they’ve filmed for the show yet.

“Hopefully everyone can see that it was time,” he said.

“To be really honest, there was a part of Kevin being gone that meant some of the conflict was gone,” he continued. “Obviously, it didn’t make it super fun to be around. Not pointing any fingers, but it was actually the easiest season we’ve filmed.”

Grimes, who plays John Dutton’s cowboy son Kayce Dutton, also said that John’s death was a necessary part of the story.

“When people love something, they don’t want it to end. Then they get mad at everyone when it does. That’s just the way that television shows work,” he said. “If John Dutton didn’t die, then the story would just continue. That was the one thing that needed to happen the whole time.”

Costner’s shocking exit from the show came amid rumors that he and Sheridan were feuding behind the scenes. But the actor revealed that the show suffered from major production delays, which his schedule did not allow.

“We very rarely started when we said we would and we didn’t finish when we said we would,” Costner told GQ in May. “And I was okay with that. I really was. I was okay with it, but it wasn’t a trend that could continue for me.”

But Costner has since maintained that he would be interested in returning one day, if the show does continue after Season 5.

“I’ve supported that thing and I’ve loved it,” Costner told Savannah Guthrie on Today back in June. “It’s been really important to me. I would love to go back under the right circumstances I think that all of us want. For me, it really needs to be the right circumstances.”

Yellowstone is streaming now on Peacock and Paramount+.