Kevin Costner Responds to John Dutton's Controversial Yellowstone Season 5 Exit: “Maybe It's a Red Herring”

In the lead-up to the long-awaited return of Yellowstone on Sunday (November 10th), fans found themselves in a strange situation.

Usually, in the weeks before the new season of a much-loved TV series arrives, social media is awash with speculation as to which characters might be on the chopping block this time around. In a setting as violent and ruthless as the Duttons’ under-fire Yellowstone ranch, the answer to this question could normally be anyone.

However, Season 5 Part 2 has bucked the trend, with Yellowstone's leading man, Kevin Costner, officially confirming in June - after much speculation and a war of words - that he wouldn't be returning for the final few episodes of the blockbuster neo-Western, due to schedule clashes with his filming commitments for Horizon.

As a result, it wasn't a question of who this time around. Instead, fans were wondering how Sheridan and his co-writers would explain John Dutton's absence in the new season.

Of course, now that the dramatic opening episode of Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 has premiered, we know the answer. As a disclaimer, if you haven't watched this yet and don't want to know what happens, there will be spoilers in the rest of this article.

Without delving into the details, Dutton is indeed killed off. His death is labelled an eyebrow-raising suicide initially, before the person behind his demise is revealed later in the episode.

Many fans have expressed their disappointment at the relatively low-key way in which John Dutton, the formidable patriarch of the family and the keystone of Yellowstone, met his end.

Aptly, Kevin Costner appeared on SiriusXM’s The Michael Smerconish Program the day after the opening episode of Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 premiered. During his conversation, Costner was asked for his thoughts on the culmination of his character's arc.

The Bodyguard star responded by amusingly admitting, “I'm going to be perfectly honest. I didn't know it was actually airing last night. That's a ‘swear to God” moment”.

Kevin Costner went on to suggest he was surprised at seeing John Dutton involved so prominently in the promotional videos and advertising surrounding the new Yellowstone season, “I've been seeing ads with my face all over the place and I'm thinking, ‘Gee, I'm not in that one’. But I didn't realize yesterday was the thing”.

It's safe to say it has been a little confusing to be reading all year that Kevin Costner would not be featuring, before then seeing clips of John Dutton in the new Yellowstone trailer.

As for John Dutton's on-screen death itself, Kevin Costner underlined that he's in no hurry to watch it back, “I heard it's a suicide, so that doesn't make me want to rush to go see it”.

Nonetheless, Kevin Costner stressed that he has faith in Taylor Sheridan and his team, as well as hinting at the actual cause of John Dutton's death, which is revealed at the end of the latest Yellowstone episode, “They're pretty smart people. Maybe it's a red herring. Who knows? They're very good. And they'll figure that out”.

Despite rumblings of discontent about the manner in which John Dutton was written out of Yellowstone, the Season 5 Part 2 premiere reportedly drew a record 16.4 million viewers.

This marks the show's biggest premiere night audience of all time, and highlights just how high the sense of anticipation has been ahead of the new season, with fans having to wait the best part of two years to find out how the series concludes. The next episode of Yellowstone will air on Sunday, November 17th on Paramount.

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