Kevin Costner Revisits the American West, Now by Helicopter – "Yellowstone," a modern-day western set in Montana

Few actors seem more to the saddle born than Kevin Costner. Onscreen, he’s ridden the American frontier in "Silverado," "Open Range," "Wyatt Earp" and his Oscar-winning calling card, "Dances With Wolves." Offscreen, he owns a 160-acre ranch in Aspen, Colo., and fronts a band called Modern West.

Which makes him a perfect fit for "Yellowstone," a modern-day western created by Taylor Sheridan ("Wind River," "Hell or High Water") with a protagonist and story line cut from 150-year-old cloth. Mr. Costner plays John Dutton, the patriarch of the largest contiguous cattle ranch in the United States — the size of Rhode Island, best navigated by helicopter — which abuts a national park, an Indian reservation and a town overflowing with land developers and energy speculators.

By Kathryn Shattuck