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Kevin Costner reacted to John Dutton’s fate on the newly-premiered season 5B of Yellowstone.
Costner confirmed over the summer he would not return to the show in the second half of season 5, which arrived on Sunday (November 10). Costner has starred as Dutton in Yellowstone since the Western drama’s debut in 2018. The cast has also included Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, Cole Hauser and Whirlwind hitmaker Lainey Wilson, who made her acting debut on the Taylor Sheridan-created show. Yellowstone “a ranching family in Montana (facing) off against others encroaching on their land.” The next episode is set to arrive on November 17.
Editor’s note: Spoilers ahead.
Yellowstone viewers quickly learned Dutton, whose face is not shown in the episode, dies of a gunshot wound in a murder plot intended to look as though Dutton took his life. Costner said in an interview that he hasn’t watched the episode yet, and he might not change that any time soon.
“Well, I'm going to be perfectly honest. I didn't know it was actually airing last night,” Costner said, later adding “I mean, I've been seeing ads with my face all over the place and I'm thinking, ‘Gee, I'm not in that one.’ I'm not in this season. ...I heard it's a suicide, so that doesn't make me want to rush to go see it.”
Costner said in a video he posted on Instagram in June that “after this long year and a half of working on [Horizon: An American Saga], and doing all the things that that’s required, and thinking about Yellowstone — that beloved series that I love, that I know you love — I just realize that I’m not going to be able to continue season 5b or into the future. It was something that really changed me. I loved it, and I know you loved it. And I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning. I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop, and I’ll see you at the movies.”