Paramount’s hit drama, Yellowstone, officially made its return over the weekend and it’s left fans with mixed emotions - including former star, Kevin Costner.
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Costner, who played the lead role of John Dutton for the series’ first four seasons and half of season 5 revealed he would not return for season 5B citing “scheduling conflicts” earlier this year. His absence prompted Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan to write his character off in the first episode and many fans are upset with how it all went down.
In the premiere, Dutton’s eldest son, Jamie [Wes Bentley], reveals John dies by suicide, with no show of the death playing out. Later, it’s revealed Jamie has an indirect connection to his father’s death — which isn’t a surprise to many as he and his father have always had tension. Jamie’s connection comes via girlfriend, Sarah Atwood [Dawn Olivieri] who hinted during the premiere she had a hit on Dutton.
With mixed emotions from fans, Costner himself weighed in as he appeared on SiriusXM’s The Michael Smerconish Program admitting he didn’t tune in to watch. "I didn’t see it,” he stated before sharing he found out about the plot surrounding his death earlier that morning (11/11). “I heard it’s a suicide. That doesn’t make me wanna rush to go see it."
He continued, "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. But I didn’t realize yesterday was the thing.”
Costner continued on to again, touch on the scheduling conflicts between him and the show sharing, “Things change, and finally when they wanted to change it a third time, because I had my obligations to do, I had 300 people waiting for me, I couldn’t help them anymore."
See how the drama plays out without patriarch John Dutton by tuning in to Yellowstone on Paramount, Sunday nights at 8PM ET/7PM PT.