Yellowstone season five, part two: Kevin Costner reacts to John Dutton’s fate

SPOILER ALERT for first episode of Yellowstone season five part two

The deed is done. Yellowstone returned last night to continue the saga of the trigger-happy Dutton family.

But it had a big question hanging over its head — the fate of patriarch John Dutton. Kevin Costner is no longer in the series after a public spat between him and the producers including creator and writer Taylor Sheridan.

Sheridan chose to answer that question within minutes of the opening scene — SPOILER WARNING — which is that John Dutton is, indeed, dead, his blood splattered all over the walls behind him.

It was explained as a suicide but later in the episode, it was revealed that his death was staged to appear as one. He was actually killed by a hitman who was hired by the girlfriend of one of his sons with whom he has feuded.

In the high stakes world of Yellowstone, family squabbles aren’t just passive-aggressive messages on the family Whatsapp chat, they’re deadly.

One person who didn’t tune in was Costner, but he still had an opinion on it. The actor and filmmaker was a guest on the Michael Smerconish Program on Sirius XM and said, “I heard it’s a suicide, so that doesn’t make me want to rush to go see it.”

When the host pointed out the decision didn’t fit in with John Dutton’s characterisation, Costner replied, “Well, they’re pretty smart people, maybe it’s a red herring? Who knows? They’re very good, and they’ll figure that out.”

Costner admitted he wasn’t even aware the series he led for four and a half previous seasons was returning this week.

“That’s a swear to god moment. I swear to god. I mean, I’ve been seeing ads with my face all over the place and I thinking, ‘Gee, I’m not in that one’. I’m not in this season, but I’ve been seeing, but I didn’t realise yesterday was the thing. I found out about it this morning, actually,” he added.

Costner is all over all the marketing for these episodes despite his absence. His voiceover and images form the centrepiece of the trailer promoting the show.

Rumours Costner would not be back emerged last year when the show was on hiatus between the first and second half of its fifth instalment. Initially, it appeared to be that Costner wanted to focus on his film series Horizon and would only give Yellowstone a limited window for the TV production.

Costner later hit back and argued that the constantly changing schedule for Yellowstone contributed to both parties’ inability to agree on a path forward.

He reiterated today, “There were contractual things that would allow for both to be done, but because both things were contractual, you had to make room for the other thing.

“There was room, but it was difficult for (Yellowstone) to keep their schedule. It seemed to be it was just too difficult for them to do it.

“I didn’t leave, I didn’t quit the show, OK?”

He continued that he had tried to accommodate their shifting demands but that, ultimately, he had an obligation to the “300 people waiting” for him on the Horizon production.

Costner’s Horizon films were meant to be a four-movie story. He has already filmed the first and second parts, which premiered at the Cannes and Venice film festivals respectively, but only part one has been released.

Set in the 19th century, Horizon is a western that tells stories from the American frontier. The film was a box office bomb, resulting in the release plans for the second film being suspended.

The production cost over $US100 million which included a significant injection of funds from Costner’s own bank account, but grossed only $US38 million globally.

This instalment of Yellowstone, now led by Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser, Wes Bentley and Luke Grimes, may be the final season. While not confirmed, it was widely expected the show would wrap after the current episodes until rumours started to circulate the core cast were in negotiations to extend their contracts.

The other option would be to move those characters into other Yellowstone shows. The series has spawned several spin-offs, including two historical prequels 1883 and 1923 while another show called The Madison starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Matthew Fox is already in development.

Yellowstone is streaming on Stan