Speaking at a Yellowstone panel on Saturday night, Keith Cox, president of development and production at Paramount Network, addressed the elephant in the room concerning star Kevin Costner’s future with the show.

“What I can say is our star, the face of our show and the executive producer, are very confident he’s going to continue with our show,” Cox told the crowd at the Dolby Theatre, in front of hundreds of fans who delivered an enthusiastic response.

In February, it was reported that the network may seek to end Yellowstone sooner rather than later due to scheduling battles with Costner, who plays patriarch John Dutton and reportedly demanded to only work for a single week on the second half of season five. The first half of the season aired its midseason finale Jan. 1 and is set to return for the second half this summer. The episode set up a potentially deadly battle ahead between Costner’s character and his son, played by Wes Bentley.

It has also been revealed that Matthew McConaughey will star in a Yellowstone spinoff series from creator Taylor Sheridan regardless of Costner’s future on the series.

At the time of the news surrounding Costner’s future, Paramount Network released this statement: “We have no news to report. Kevin Costner is a big part of Yellowstone, and we hope that’s the case for a long time to come. Thanks to the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan, we are always working on franchise expansions of this incredible world he has built. Matthew McConaughey is a phenomenal talent with whom we’d love to partner.” 

Saturday night’s panel was originally set to feature Costner, Sheridan and co-stars Bentley, Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser, Luke Grimes, Kelsey Asbille, Gil Birmingham Jacki Weaver and executive producer David Glasser. However, just hours before the event, the lineup was completely changed, replaced with Cox, Moses Brings Plenty, Dawn Olivieri, Josh Lucas and Wendy Moniz.