Luke Grimes Reacts to John Dutton's Fate in New Yellowstone Season: “It's Very Shocking”

*Yellowstone spoilers below*

During an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Luke Grimes has shared his thoughts on John Dutton's fate in the new season of Taylor Sheridan's popular neo-Western series, Yellowstone, as well as touching on his own character's story arc.

When Fallon asked Grimes whether he was surprised about John Dutton's sudden death in the first episode of Season 5 Part 2, which aired last week, the ‘No Horse To Ride’ singer-songwriter responded, “Yeah, of course. I mean, we always kind of knew it was coming. That's sort of how the show was set up, right? It was always going to go there. If this person goes away, can [the children] still do it?”

Luke Grimes plays John Dutton's son, Kayce Dutton, in the Paramount series, who initially seeks to distance himself from the Yellowstone ranch as he starts a new family with his wife, Monica, and their child, Tate, on the Broken Rock Indian Reservation. As the story progresses, however, Kayce finds himself being brought back into the fold of the Dutton empire as his father's health continues to deteriorate.

Luke Grimes explained how Taylor Sheridan always knew how Yellowstone would reach its conclusion, despite a spanner being thrown in the works when Kevin Costner, who plays John Dutton, announced that he wouldn't be returning to film the new season. Grimes admitted, “It ended up happening in a way that none of us saw coming”, before describing the manner of John's death as “very shocking...He had terminal cancer when the show started...We always knew it was [going to end]...but we couldn't let him go that quick, you know? We needed him around”.

Luke Grimes, who consolidated his embrace of the Yellowstone aesthetic by releasing his debut country album in March, went on to reflect on how Kayce's character arc develops over the course of Season 5 Part 2, “I am [happy with the way Kayce's story ends], man. I think it's perfect. Yeah, Taylor knew the end from the very beginning. He told me, he was like, ‘I don't want you to know how it ends, but I know how it ends’, and then when I read it, I was like, ‘I'm glad he saved it”. It's really perfect’”.

Jimmy Fallon then referenced potential easter eggs about the ending of Yellowstone from his previous conversation with Luke Grimes for The Tonight Show in January 2023. During that chat, Fallon mentions how Kayce Dutton has been likened to Michael Corleone from The Godfather trilogy. Given the fact that Michael succeeds his father, Vito, as the leader of the Corleone crime family upon his death, this seemingly implies that Kayce is destined to become the new head of the Dutton family.

Elsewhere during his conversation, Luke Grimes joked about his strategy for fending off questions from friends and family about Yellowstone spoilers, “I kind of figured it out. All I have to say is that I signed an NDA - even if I didn't! And everyone leaves me alone”. Grimes also treated viewers to a performance of ‘Black Powder’, one of the stand-outs from his album, on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon stage.

Earlier in the year, Luke Grimes spoke to Holler about the challenges he and the rest of the Yellowstone cast faced as a result of Kevin Costner's departure from the much-loved show, labelling it a “miracle” that the series was able to keep going for a final season.

New episodes of Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 air each Sunday at 8pm ET via the Paramount Network in the US and can be streamed on Paramount+ in Canada and the UK.

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