Kevin Costner’s Frustration with ‘Yellowstone’: “I’ve Been Waiting for My Character to Die”
Kevin Costner Is Out: What That Means for Yellowstone‘s Final Ride
Since the first half of Yellowstone Season 5 ended, stories of Kevin Costner’s growing rift with the series have steadily mounted. Reports suggested the Oscar winner wanted more creative control and flexibility to work on his own Western epic, Horizon. In 2023, multiple outlets claimed he demanded increasingly limited filming windows—50 days for Season 5A, and allegedly just a single week for 5B. (Costner’s rep dismissed the latter as “an absolute lie.”)
Now, Yellowstone is finally back. But will Costner return for the finale?
If you’ve seen the trailer, you might think so. It opens with John Dutton’s gravelly voice declaring, “Everyone’s forgotten who runs this valley,” and closes with, “This war is just beginning.” Between those lines, there are three blink-and-you-miss-them shots of Costner totaling around five seconds—none of them with new dialogue. The focus is clearly elsewhere: the Dutton children, their romantic entanglements, the ranch crew, and tribal leaders from the Broken Rock reservation.
But here’s the twist: Costner’s big lines in the trailer aren’t new—they’re recycled from Season 1.
This summer, Costner confirmed what many suspected: he won’t be returning. “I’m not going to be able to continue Season 5B or into the future,” he announced. So despite what the trailer hints at, don’t expect any new John Dutton footage. Cast members have openly talked about how strange it felt filming the show without him.
Could old clips be used in flashbacks or previously unseen scenes? Possibly. But given the legal complexities and Costner’s reportedly tight control over his image, even that seems unlikely. And with six episodes left, Yellowstone can’t rely on scraps of archival footage to keep John Dutton alive. He needs to be written out—fast.
The challenge? Unlike Succession’s Logan Roy, who was axed early in that show’s final season, John Dutton is central to Yellowstone. He’s not just the family patriarch—he’s the employer, adversary, or love interest of nearly every major character. So many scenes take place in his orbit that his absence risks destabilizing the entire narrative.
This has always been a Kevin Costner-led vehicle. The Season 1 trailer couldn’t go five seconds without flashing “ACADEMY AWARD WINNER KEVIN COSTNER” on screen. He dominated early promos for Seasons 2 and 3. By Season 5A, that had shifted—Costner’s name was gone, and showrunner Taylor Sheridan’s was front and center.
Still, Costner loomed large. He appeared or narrated 45 of the 90 seconds in that trailer.
To make things even more complicated, Season 5A ended with Dutton serving as governor of Montana. So now the show must navigate the sudden disappearance—or death—of the sitting governor, who also happens to be the central character of the series.
But writing him off won’t be easy. Costner reportedly had a “moral death” clause in his contract, barring the show from killing John Dutton in any way that might cause “shame or embarrassment.” So scratch the fan theories about car crashes, assassination, or mysterious accidents.
Could Dutton just… vanish? Maybe he dives deep into Montana politics, flees the country to dodge federal charges, or pulls a classic TV move—goes out for a pack of smokes and never comes back.
More likely? The Dutton patriarch will meet an off-screen death that’s as sudden as it is unsatisfying. And unfortunately for Yellowstone, this isn’t just a character loss—it’s a structural crisis.
John Dutton has survived more close calls than most action heroes: cancer, a ruptured ulcer (treated by a veterinarian, no less), multiple gunshot wounds, and various assassination attempts. Killing him off now won’t just feel abrupt—it’ll feel nearly impossible.
And yet, somehow, Sheridan and company have to do it. Because as much as this show was built around Costner, Yellowstone has to find a way to move on without him.
