Kevin Costner is sharing new details about his decision to leave Yellowstone.

The actor took the stand on Friday (September 1) as part of a child support hearing in Santa Barbara, Calif. amid his ongoing divorce from estranged wife Christine Baumgartner.

While testifying, Kevin revealed what led him to exit the Paramount Network series, explaining that a “long, hard-fought negotiation” about splitting the fifth season into two parts was a major factor in his departure.

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People writes that Kevin explained that he needed to focus on his own Western, Horizon: An American Saga, and had already changed his schedule to accommodate shooting for the first part of Yellowstone season 5. “That’s a big deal in this world,” he noted.

He added that there were “no scripts written” for the second part of season 5 and they “still hadn’t finished” the first half of the season at the time. They opted to do a “pay or play” which didn’t work and he was expected to be paid $12 million for each part of season 5.

While he wanted to come back for the sixth season, Kevin felt he “couldn’t help them any more. We tried to negotiate, they offered me less money than previous seasons, there were issues with the creative…”

He shared that before walking away from the show, he asked his reps to “have them pay me whatever number, we came up with a number, and they [Yellowstone] walked away.” He added that he believes that number was $12 million.

“I’ve been told it’s a little disappointing that [it’s] the #1 show on TV, I’m not participating,” he said.

Kevin was then asked if he was set to receive a payout from the second part of Yellowstone season 5 and he replied, “I will probably go to court over it.”

Earlier this summer, Yellowstone‘s creator Taylor Sheridan shared his thoughts on Kevin‘s exit. Find out what he said here.