When one is trying to tell a story as comprehensive and detailed as Yellowstone’s, it is only natural that many characters will come and go according to what the story needs. Taylor Sheridan does not shy away from killing off and introducing characters, which is just one of the many reasons why fans adore his methods of direction and storytelling.
However, there is one character in the series who was seriously done wrong. Lee Dutton was famously killed off far too soon in the show, and it would seem that Sheridan agreed with this sentiment. So much so that he felt that he owed the actor a debt.
Lee Dutton Became Neil
Lee Dutton was excellently played by Dave Annable in Yellowstone, and while he did a great job as the character, he did not get to play him for very long. Despite this, it would seem that the actor’s performance had a lasting impact on Taylor Sheridan. During an interview with Deadline, Annable talked about the events that transpired after he was done playing Lee in Kevin Costner’s series.
It would seem that soon after his exit from the show, he was contacted by Sheridan, who was interested in hiring the actor to play a new character in a different series altogether. In 2023, the director and actor released a hit series called Special Ops: Lioness. In this, Annable played the role of Neil, the husband of Zoe Saldana’s protagonist, Joe.
When it came back Taylor asked me if I was still interested. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is amazing.
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In the interview, he mentioned how Sheridan approached him with the opportunity, and he could not help but jump on it. However, it would seem that the offer had something to do with his limited appearance in the Costner series as well.
Taylor Sheridan Felt Guilty
Lee Dutton’s death was untimely, to say the least. The oldest of the Dutton siblings was killed off in the very first episode of the series, which set up the dynamics of the series and its future as a whole. It established relationships and became a catalyst for a lot of conflicts, being the defining moment for what the show would become.
While it was a very important and impactful role in Yellowstone, itself, outside the series, it was just hiring an actor for a major role, only to kill them off. During the interview, Dave Annable revealed that Taylor Sheridan seemed to feel guilty for how he wrote off Lee’s character in the series.
There might have been some version of an IOU in there, you know, his feeling bad,
It would seem that after killing off the character so quickly, Sheridan seemed to have felt guilty for it, wanting to make it up to Annable in some way or another. Looking back, this seems to be the reason that the actor credits for getting his role in Special Ops: Lioness.