While Yellowstone went down as one of the finest Western pieces that Kevin Costner has been a part of to date, it is also the project that earned him quite a bit of controversy when he decided to leave it. As much as he worked closely with Taylor Sheridan to bring the show to life, their reported fallout with Costner’s infamous exit was nothing short of unbelievable either.
With the actor’s leave, his character John Dutton, who served as the head of the Dutton family in the respectable saga, had to exit the drama as well. For the same, showrunner Sheridan racked his brains to devise an end that he ostensibly felt to be the most feasible. But the surprising part is that he doesn’t seem to have honored Costner’s suggested ideas while doing so.
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Taylor Sheridan Didn’t Pay Heed to Kevin Costner’s Ideas For John Dutton’s Exit?
As much as it has been gaining fame as of late for what is expected to be the final season of the saga, Yellowstone has also been making headlines because of the reported offscreen Costner-Sheridan drama. What started with Costner wanting to leave eventually resulted in his infamous exit that snatched viewers’ chance to see his character one last time in part 2 of season 5.
But while the way this series of events has turned out to be may have been unexpected, the characters in imminent danger with Kevin Costner‘s leave were put under serious consideration nonetheless. To be more precise, Costner’s John Dutton found himself the talk of the town as the showrunner tried to find the ultimate end to bid him farewell with the actor’s exit.
Turns out, Taylor Sheridan wasn’t the only one (besides fans) trying to figure out just how John could leave without even making an appearance, being such a major part of the show. As the Dances with Wolves star recently admitted, he did present some ideas on how his character’s arc could be concluded. But it seems like Sheridan didn’t honor the actor’s ideas.
Chatting with Extra at the 15th Governors Awards in Hollywood, Costner shared news about the same while revealing he hasn’t streamed the fifth season’s second part, saying:
No, I didn’t see it. I didn’t see it, so I don’t know how [they handled it]. I had suggested a couple of storylines along the way, but they just go their own direction. That’s okay with me.
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That said, it sounds unarguable that Sheridan’s ideas just didn’t align with the storylines suggested by Costner to end John’s character arc. But of course, there could be various reasons for this, like he may not have found his ideas feasible for the future. And, since Sheridan has displayed his genius one too many times, fans might as well have faith in him for this one as well.
How Did John Dutton Leave the Yellowstone Lore?
Since we’re already talking about how Costner’s ideas for the conclusion of his character’s arc weren’t given much fancy, we might as well address how John Dutton has actually left the saga so far. Brace yourself, for while he did say he doesn’t do “f—k you car crashes,” the showrunner seems to have pulled off something similar nonetheless by killing off the head of the Dutton family.
In the debut episode of season 5 part 2 of Yellowstone, the opening scene quite literally gets into the drama right away as it shows police cars surrounding the Dutton residence before Kelly Reilly‘s Beth’s rattled expression and reactions confirm the tragedy that has gone down. Without even showing the face, the episode established that John was dead, with blood seen splattered on the wall.
Had Costner’s reported beef with Sheridan not already been known by the fans, many might as well have taken this as a red flag since shows pronouncing someone as dead without showing the face usually end up with the character actually being not dead. At the same time, Sheridan seems to have turned his departure into a mystery, so there’s room for doubt as well.
Of course, going further into the series, the mystique surrounding John Dutton’s death is expected to unveil a deeper exploration of what actually happened. But until that happens, fans need to brace themselves for both the best and the worst as, considering the mastermind craftsman that Taylor Sheridan is, things can quite literally take the most unexpected turn possible.