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Yellowstone Returned On November 10…And Dealt Out John Dutton’s Fate

With Yellowstone back in the news following its highly anticipated return, former series lead Kevin Costner wants to clarify that he “didn’t quit” the show.

Consider this your SPOILER WARNING for the latest episode of Yellowstone that aired on Sunday, November 10.

Yellowstone went on its midseason break in January 2023. The break ended up being longer than anticipated. Production was initially delayed due to negotiations between Costner, who played the show’s main character John Dutton, and those behind Yellowstone.

An additional wrench was thrown into things because of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Writers could not write new episodes and the actors could not work on set while the strikes were ongoing.

Eventually, Costner announced that he would not be involved in filming the second part of Season 5. Despite this, fans remained hopeful he’d make an appearance in Yellowstone‘s new episodes.

Those hopes were heightened when old footage of Costner was prominently featured in a trailer the show released to advertise its return.

However, those hopes were seemingly dashed after Yellowstone returned on November 10. Within the first few minutes of the episode, it was revealed that John Dutton was dead.

While the scene was staged to look like his death was self-inflicted, John’s daughter, Beth, believes he was murdered. She suspects her adopted brother, Jamie, was behind the plot.

Viewers later learned that Jamie was semi-connected to John’s death. But the hit was actually ordered by Sarah Atwood of Market Equities. Sarah is romantically involved with Jamie, although she’s using him for her own selfish gains.

Costner Reacts To John Dutton’s Death

Since Costner wasn’t involved in filming the new episodes, he had no idea what John Dutton’s fate would be. He reacted to his death during an interview on SiriusXM’s The Michael Smerconish Program on Monday (November 11).

Costner said he didn’t even know when Yellowstone was returning. So he hadn’t watched the new episode yet. But he heard about what happened to his former character, saying, “I didn’t see it. I heard it’s a suicide, so that doesn’t make me want to rush to go see it.”

He added:

“Well, they’re pretty smart people. Maybe it’s a red herring. Who knows? They’re very good. And they’ll figure that out.”

Costner said they had “talked about possible endings” for John Dutton when he was involved with the show. But he didn’t know anything about Yellowstone‘s plans for the character in the November 10 episode.

“Listen, they’re smart people,” he said. “Whatever they’re doing, they’ll figure it out. But I had come up with two possible endings back when I wasn’t going to [do it as] long as it did go.”

Kevin Costner Says He “Didn’t Quit” Yellowstone

Costner also dove in to the reasons behind his absence from Yellowstone. To boil it down, scheduling conflicts and contract negotiations led to his departure.

Costner wanted some time to work on his Horizon movie saga. According to him, things seemed to allow for that at first, but negotiations fell through.

“There were the gaps that were there. There was contractual things that would allow for both things to be done, but because both things were contractual, you had to make room for the other thing. There was room, but it was difficult for them to keep their schedule,” he said.

Despite this, Costner wanted to clarify that he never actually “quit” Yellowstone:

“It seemed to be, it was just too difficult for them to do it. There was the time there, what happened, you can deal with it. But no one, I didn’t leave. I didn’t quit the show. OK?”

Costner said he made a contract to do three projects, presumably Yellowstone and his first two Horizon films.

He claims that within eight months, two other contracts were under negotiation. “Not at my request, but at their request to try to do things,” he said.

“I accommodated them on those extra two things that changed. Things change, and finally when they wanted to change it a third time, because I had my obligations to do, I had 300 people waiting for me, I couldn’t help them anymore. I just simply couldn’t help them. But I didn’t quit the show.“

Costner has expressed interest in returning to Yellowstone. He’d be willing to come back if he likes the story and scripts.

While it now seems unlikely Costner’s John Dutton could return in the present day, Yellowstone is known for its curveballs…

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