Kevin Costner Reacts to His Shocking Yellowstone Fate

Warning: Major SPOILERS for Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 below!

Following months of chatter surrounding Kevin Costner‘s Yellowstone exit, we now know the fate of his character, John Dutton. Taylor Sheridan’s neo-Western series returned for its concluding fifth season (which aired the first batch of episodes well over a year ago). With Costner no longer aboard the hit Paramount+ drama, audiences eagerly anticipated how the show would send off the acclaimed actor’s beloved John Dutton. Well, now we know, and so does Costner, who shared his opinion about the reveal during an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Michael Smerconish Program on Monday (but not before noting that he didn’t even know Yellowstone “was actually airing” the night before).

“That’s a swear-to-God moment. I swear to God. I mean, I’ve been seeing ads with my face all over the place and I’m thinking, ‘Gee, I’m not in that one.’ I’m not in this season. But I didn’t realize yesterday was the thing. Somebody said, ‘It played last night?’ And I said, ‘Hmm, okay.’ So no, I found out about it this morning actually.”

As the premiere episode of Season 5’s Part 2 shockingly revealed, John Dutton is dead. The episode, “Desire All You Need,” kicks off heavily with John Dutton found dead from a gunshot wound. While there’s some speculation that the Dutton family patriarch has died by suicide, we later learn that he was killed as part of a plan laid out by Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), who is carrying on a romantic relationship with John’s son, Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley). When asked how he felt about his character’s death, Costner shared:

“I didn’t see it. I heard it’s a suicide. That doesn’t make me wanna rush to go see it.

They’re pretty smart people. Maybe it’s a red herring. They’re very good. They’ll figure that out.”

Kelly Reilly Delivers a Standout Performance in Yellowstone

Viewers who tuned into Sunday night’s new Yellowstone episode were less than pleased with how Costner’s character was written out of the series. Over on X (formerly Twitter), audiences questioned the decision to end Costner’s storyline with Dutton’s death. Some said they no longer wanted to finish the series, while others just believed that Costner deserved a better send off. It’s interesting to note, however, that Kelly Reilly, who brilliantly portrays Beth Dutton on the series, recently shared that John Dutton was never supposed to make it to the show’s conclusion:

“The absence was part of the ending. That’s not something that we had to pivot, that was already written into the tapestry of the story. It was always going to happen, it just happened a little bit differently.”

Among fan criticism for Yellowstone‘s decision to kill off John Dutton was praise for Reilly’s standout performance in “Desire All You Need.” While Reilly has not been nominated for an Emmy for her work on the series (which has been phenomenal throughout its run), some are speculating that this is the season the actress will get her flowers. “Plenty of folks are saying they won’t watch Yellowstone anymore with how they had John Dutton go out. As a character purist, I get it. But Kelly Reilly’s performance deserves fans seeing the season through,” said @KristenK1874, with @itscolton696969 adding, “Kelly Reilly is a goddamn powerhouse as Beth Dutton. She is a masterclass in acting. She proved that in the movie Eden Lake. And now here she is 16 years later killing it on Yellowstone. Side note tonight’s episode was a phenomenal 10/10.”

In May, Costner’s official exit from Yellowstone made headlines, and shortly after the news broke, it was announced that Sheridan’s neo-Western would conclude with its fifth season. Yellowstone will air its final episode on December 15, 2024. While this chapter of the Dutton Ranch saga will close, viewers may get to see more of fan-favorite couple Beth and Rip (Cole Hauser).

Release Date

June 20, 2018

Cast

Kevin Costner , Finn Little , Brecken Merrill , Gil Birmingham , Denim Richards , Ian Bohen , Danny Huston , Kelly Reilly , Forrie J. Smith , Cole Hauser , Kelsey Asbille , Wes Bentley , Jefferson White , Luke Grimes , Ryan Bingham

Seasons

5

Franchise

Story By

Taylor Sheridan

Network

Paramount

Streaming Service(s)

Paramount+ , Peacock

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