‘Yellowstone’ star Ian Bohen opens up about Kevin Costner’s exit: ‘We lost our quarterback’

“Yellowstone” actor Ian Bohen has opened up about Kevin Costner’s shock exit from the hit series, saying the cast and crew lost its “quarterback.”

Costner, 69, played John Dutton on the Paramount Network show, last appearing in Part 1 of Season 5 in 2022.

The two-time Oscar winner announced he would not return to “Yellowstone” in June amid rumors of a feud with creator Taylor Sheridan.

“I would use the analogy of a football team. If your quarterback gets hurt and he has to come out of the game, you have to play,” Bohen, 48, told Us Weekly at the CMA Awards on Wednesday.

“So you gotta figure out another way to run the ball or throw the ball or just do different things because you can’t quit. So that’s what happened. We lost our quarterback and we still have to play the game.”

“There’s a lot of other people there and families and the whole world around it and the stadium and everybody has to go to work,” said Bohen, who plays Ryan on the hit Paramount series.

“So what are you gonna do? Well, you gotta figure it out. So that’s what we do. We found a way to figure it out.”

The ranch drama returned earlier this month for the second half of the season and killed off Costner’s character — prompting strong reactions from loyal fans.

“You get into a certain level of comfort and understanding and when it’s altered, it’s a little bit of a bump,” Bohen went on. “But like anything, you just put your helmet on and you’re like, ‘I gotta go catch the next pass.’ So you can’t really dwell on it too much.”

Costner’s character was ultimately killed off after a hit man fatally shot John, with the shooting being made to look like a suicide. Fans later find out that the girlfriend of his son Jamie (Wes Bentley) orchestrated his murder plot.

Costner weighed in on Dutton’s death on Nov. 11, just hours after the episode aired.

“That’s a swear-to-God moment. I swear to God,” he said on SiriusXM’s “The Michael Smerconish Program.”

“I mean, I’ve been seeing ads with my face all over the place and I’m thinking, ‘Gee, I’m not in that one.’ I’m not in this season. But I didn’t realize yesterday was the thing. Somebody said, ‘It played last night?’ And I said, ‘Hmm, okay.’ So no, I found out about it this morning actually.”

“I didn’t see it. I heard it’s a suicide. That doesn’t make me wanna rush to go see it,” he added.