Yellowstone’s Kevin Costner leads highest paid stars on TV by raking in $1.3 M

He stars and executive produces the smash hit series Yellowstone.

And now, once again, Kevin Costner is reaping the reward as he becomes the highest paid actor per episode on the small screen.

The 67-year-old Hollywood veteran is making $1.3 million per episode for season 5 of the Western-themed show, Variety reported Wednesday.

Costner, who won two Academy Awards for 1990’s Dances With Wolves, stars in Yellowstone as patriarch John Dutton whose family has owned a ranch in Montana for six generations.

Each season of the drama has outperformed the last with the audience for season 4 four times the size of the one that tuned in for the first series.

And along with its success, Costner, whose season one starting salary was $500,000 an episode, managed to renegotiate his contract every step of the way to $1.2 million per episode for the fourth season, according to ScreenRant.

Now he’s getting an extra $100,000 per episode to return for more episodes of the drama.

Highest paid:  Kevin Costner is making $1.3 million per episode for season 5 of his hit series Yellowstone, Variety reported on Wednesday, putting him at the top of TV earners

Yellowstone, which debuted on the Paramount Network cable channel in 2018, is a flagship product for recently launched streaming service Paramount+.

It has also spawned two prequels, 1883 starring Faith Hill and Tim McGraw which premiered in December 2021 and the upcoming 1923 that, according to Variety, will earn its stars Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren $1 million per episode each.

Directed and mostly written by Taylor Sheridan, Yellowstone was an instant hit with viewers despite being dubbed ‘anti-woke’.

However, it has failed to find the same success within the Hollywood industry being mostly snubbed at awards shows despite pulling in more than 10 million viewers.

Once again, the series was left out of the Best Drama category when the Emmy nominations were announced earlier this month.

Costner, too, who won two Academy Awards for 1990’s Dances With Wolves, was snubbed in the Best Actor category.

It did land a Screen Actors Guild nomination this year but did not come away with the top prize.

Hit show: Costner, 67, earned $500,000 per episode when the Western premiered in 2018 and has negotiated a salary increase for each season since thanks to blockbuster viewing figures 

Set in the American West, Yellowstone received its share of criticisms especially when it first aired.

Tim Goodman, of The Hollywood Reporter, called the show a ‘testosterone grit-fest’ that is far from relatable.

‘Yellowstone tries to be so expansive and soap-operatic that there’s barely any realism in it,’ Goodman wrote.

Just before t1he season three finale, Kathyrn VanArendonk, of Vulture, wrote that Yellowstone ‘is the most white, male American show on TV.

She wrote that the show focuses on portraying the idea that city folk are ‘namby-pambies who don’t value the good things: Dirt. Cows. Empty horizons. Silence. Those people are less sweaty, less callused, less worthy.’

‘It’s a supremely masculine, American, whiteness-inflected ethos of how Yellowstone yearns for the world to work.’

She added that John Dutton served as a reflection of America, where white, land owning men were desperate to hold onto the old way amid a changing nation threatening to leave them behind.

 Not politically correct: Yellowstone which airs on Paramount+ has been dubbed ‘anti woke’ for its focus on a land-owning white man in rural America 

No gongs: The series directed and mostly written by Taylor Sheridan has mostly been snubbed at Hollywood awards shows despite pulling in more than 10 million viewers

In the money: Another actor who shares the title of most paid on TV is Mahershala Ali, 48, who is also getting $1.3 million per episode for upcoming mini series The Plot for Disney+ and Hulu 

Another actor who shares the title of most paid on TV is Mahershala Ali, 48.

According to Variety, he is also getting $1.3 million per episode for the currently in production mini series The Plot for Disney+ and Hulu.

Like Costner, Ali is a two-time…