Yellowstone stars Luke Grimes (Kayce Dutton) and Kelsey Asbille (Monica Long-Dutton) have revealed they are ‘still processing’ the show’s shock ending.
The popular neo-Western returned to Stan on Monday with a bombshell premiere which saw Kevin Costner’s fate on the show sealed after his sudden exit, as his character John Dutton seemingly committed suicide in the opening scene.
However, actors Grimes, 40, and Asbille, 33, have hinted the series has more devastating episodes to come, saying the season 5B script is a ‘gut punch’, reported 9Entertainment on Monday.
‘Page one [of the script], literally. It gets right into it… It’s kind of a gut punch. [Creator] Taylor [Sheridan] really just goes for it,’ Grimes and Asbille said.
‘There’s a finality to it and he really leans into the loss and the end—in a beautiful way, though.
‘It’s going to make you feel all the right things you want to feel in the finale episode of the show you’ve loved for so long.’
It comes after Yellowstone director Christina Voros explained the real reason the show sealed Costner’s, 69, fate in the first 30 seconds of the bombshell season return.
The show wasted no time by revealing Costner’s character John Dutton died, by apparent suicide, in the opening moments of the season 5B premiere.
Voros opened up about creator Taylor Sheridan’s decision to have Dutton killed off, after Costner’s shock exit from the show amid rumors of a feud with Sheridan, in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published on Sunday.
Following fan speculation that the quick and brutal death was a jab at Costner, Voros revealed Sheridan wanted to swiftly address the actor’s departure and redirect the narrative to the remaining characters, exploring how they deal with the ‘aftermath’ of Dutton’s death.
‘I think Taylor’s decision to begin this way was incredibly brave,’ she said.
‘I think it is testament to his faith in the characters and the actors who embody them to go, “Let’s not make this about the incident. Let’s make this about how these human beings exist in the aftermath.” That was more interesting to [Taylor] than the incident itself,’ she added.
Voros went on to say that upon reading the script she had the ‘breath knocked out of me.’
Though she didn’t ‘see it coming’, and though many viewers were likely anticipating a drawn out mystery, Voros shared that by revealing Dutton’s death so early on, the show now shifted to a new mystery of what will happen next.
Costner has since broken his silence on the shocking death of his character in the season 5B premiere.
Speaking on The Michael Smerconish Program on SiriusXM on Monday, Costner said: ‘I didn’t see [the premiere]. I heard it’s a suicide. That doesn’t make me wanna rush to go see it.
‘They’re pretty smart people. Maybe it’s a red herring. They’re very good. They’ll figure that out.’
Many fans thought Dutton committing suicide was completely out of character, though they would come to learn all was not as it seemed.
Costner made a dramatic exit from the series over scheduling conflicts with his Western movie franchise Horizon, with the announcement of his departure coming earlier this year.