Yellowstone: Kevin Costner on John Dutton's Fate, Not Knowing Ep Aired

Posted in: Paramount+, TV | Tagged: kevin costner, yellowstone

Yellowstone: Kevin Costner on John Dutton's Fate, Not Knowing Ep Aired

Kevin Costner comments on John Dutton's fate and claims he didn't know Taylor Sheridan & John Linson's Yellowstone returned on Sunday night.

Published Mon, 11 Nov 2024 15:03:08 -0600
by Ray Flook
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If caught the return of Taylor Sheridan and John Linson's Yellowstone on Sunday night, then you know how the hit series addressed Kevin Costner's John Dutton not appearing for the remainder of the season/series. They killed him off right at the start of"Desire Is All You Need" (directed by Christina Alexandra Voros and written by Sheridan), dumping a whole lot of gasoline on the already raging war between Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Jamie (Wes Bentley) – but more on that in a minute. During his visit with SiriusXM's The Michael Smerconish Program earlier today, Costner shared his thoughts on his character's fate. Costner was made aware of where the storyline went with his character, but the actor/director didn't watch the actual episode. In fact, Costner claims he didn't know the show returned this past weekend.

"Well, I'm going to be perfectly honest. I didn't know it was actually airing last night. That's a swear-to-God moment. I swear to God," Costner revealed. "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've been seeing… but I didn't realize yesterday was the thing. I really have… my focus has been on what I was having to do, and I've got a few calls to make. So you think — sometimes I'm like just a passenger in my life, you know, there's a lot going on. And somebody said, 'You know it played last night?' And I said, 'Hmm, OK.' So no, I found out about it this morning actually."

Based on what Costner learned regarding John's demise, it doesn't sound like he plans on watching it anytime soon, either. "I didn't see it. I heard it's a suicide, so that doesn't make me want to rush to go see it," Costner said. From there, Costner and Smerconish discuss how that wouldn't fit with a character like John Dutton, with Costner adding an additional thought that would end up being proven before the credits rolled. "Well, they're pretty smart people. Maybe it's a red herring. Who knows? They're very good. And they'll figure that out," the actor/director said.

Yellowstone Return Reveals Fate of Kevin Costner's John Dutton

After not appearing for the first day of his impeachment trial, we learn that John's body was found in the bathroom of the Montana governor's mansion – an apparent victim of a fatal self-inflicted gunshot wound. Beth arrives on the scene first, followed by Kayce (Luke Grimes). Though Kayce can't see him having anything to do with it, Beth is certain that Jamie was responsible – not surprising, considering Beth and John vowed to kill Jamie and vice-versa heading into the midseason break. We're going to stop the spoilers there, but let's just say there's some question as to how much involvement Jamie and/or Sarah (Dawn Olivieri) had – a question that gets a very definitive answer by the end of the episode (with Jamie getting a hard lesson in the importance of proper communication with Sarah moving forward). Oh, and not surprisingly, no one on John's side is buying the suicide angle…

Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, director Christina Voros – who is helming four of the six "final" chapters, revealed that John Dutton's (Kevin Costner) "presence is integral" to where the series is heading while also making sure to stay in a spoiler-safe zone. "I think to say any more than that would potentially compromise all the work that went into redacting the scripts! [Laughs] But I think the reason people are wondering, 'Is he, isn't he? Where is he, where is he not?' is because he is the patriarch, and his presence is an essential component of the story. John Dutton is still central."

In terms of how Sheridan handled adjusting the timeline of ending John Dutton's story in light of Costner's departure, Voros shared that it was a "joy" being able to see how Sheridan works and being able to bring those words to life. "It made me feel really lucky to get to direct it. Taylor always has a sense of where something is going to end and the joy is watching him find how we get there," the director explained. "So all I can say is when I read the scripts, I felt tremendously grateful to be a part of telling this chapter in the story."

Produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios and distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution, Paramount Network's Yellowstone is executive-produced by Sheridan, Linson, Costner, Art Linson, David C. Glasser, Bob Yari, Stephen Kay, Michael Friedman, Christina Voros, and Keith Cox.

If you or anyone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988 or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources.

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