As a TV series Yellowstone comes to an end, Newsweek spoke with star Luke Grimes about what it feels like to say goodbye to a show he's been on for seven years.

Taylor Sheridan and John Linson's popular western drama premiered in 2018 after filming began in 2017. It follows the Dutton family, led by patriarch John Dutton (Kevin Costner), who controls the largest contiguous cattle ranch in the United States as they struggle to defend their land and their way of life against constant threats. Grimes plays Kayce Dutton, John's youngest child, with the two men having a complex and strained relationship.

Season 5, Part 1 of Yellowstone aired from November 2022 to January 2023, with the second half of the final season scheduled to premiere on November 10, 2024. The fifth and final season of Yellowstone was announced in May 2023.

Grimes told Newsweek that saying goodbye to the hit show was “not at all” easy.

“You know, I finished filming over a month ago and it's still like, I'm still kind of processing it all and there are still moments of the day where it feels very heavy and very important that this “The chapter of my life is over because it was a big part of my life,” he explained.

“I've played this character for seven years, since 2017. And, you know, my cast and crew have become like another family. And there are people who will remain in my life and who I will see from time to time, but just in the capacity that we created something together that we all believed in, that was so good and we were on one beautiful place.

“It was a very special project and I doubt it will ever be surpassed in my lifetime.”

When asked what he would miss most YellowstoneThe actor said that two things come to mind: the friends he made and the character he played.

“Two things struck me: one is the people, the kind of family we've created, and I guess the other is the character,” he continued.

“I've really fallen in love with Kayce over the years, and I always feel like as an actor you want to treat a character with love. You want to look up to them, to do justice to them and to me. “I really did that with him and I think he's a much better person than me and I'm really going to miss it.

While Grimes may find it difficult to say goodbye to the show that has taken up a large part of his life, he has kept busy with a number of other projects, including his career as a country music artist. In March he released his self-titled debut album, Luke Grimes, and he begins recording it in November Playing on the tracks Tour with performances in cities such as New York, Nashville and Los Angeles.

“We're going on tour this fall, so I'm going to visit some cities this fall that I haven't been to yet. And then I'm writing another album right now, and we should have it ready next year,” he said Newsweek.

“So yeah, there’s a lot to look forward to. I just feel lucky to be able to do something musically. I never really expected that, and I've just been lucky enough to kind of enjoy the process, and I hope I'm able to do it for a very long time.

Grimes said he draws inspiration from a variety of things when writing music, such as the exciting life he has led. The opportunity to travel the world throughout his career has given him a unique perspective.

“Like any artist in any form, I simply draw inspiration from my experiences and my life. I'm fortunate that these experiences were very broad and spanned many different cultures and, you know, social and economic constructs,” he explained.

“I've been everywhere – I've traveled the world, I've played lots of different characters and lived in lots of different places, and so I draw from all of that. I feel very lucky that I've had such an interesting life so far that I can somehow talk about it in the songs.”

Country music was one of the fastest-growing streaming genres in the U.S. in 2023, according to industry data firm Luminate. On-demand audio streams across countries exceeded 20 billion, up 23.7 percent year-over-year.

In 2024, it's experiencing a huge resurgence: Beyoncé is releasing a country album, country songs are regularly going viral on TikTok, and the charts are full of exciting country and folk artists, including Noah Kahan, Lainey Wilson, and Zach Bryan.

“I think there's always an ebb and flow, but I think people are kind of craving quantity over quality – just the way technology is evolving, the way music is becoming more electronic and digital and is somehow easier to produce,” Grimes said.

“I think country music has always been about the song and people writing lyrics, playing music on instruments and just stripping it back to the simple core of what Americana music really is. I think people are craving that right now because…while they don't understand it.

“One of my favorite things about the country is that you can surrender to emotional life, you can surrender to sadness, to joy or to family. It's about the human experience without going into the abstract – it's about the fact of the matter of life.”

The actor also collaborates with iconic workwear brand Carhartt and is part of the “History In The Making” campaign. He stars in the brand's short film: Made in Montanato honor Montana's hard-working ranchers and farmers who actively work to preserve their land and provide the vital food and natural resources that people rely on every day.