Kevin Costner Reacts To His ‘Yellowstone’ Character’s Fate

Spoiler warning: This story contains spoilers for Season 5 Episode 9 of “Yellowstone.”

Actor Kevin Costner has weighed in on the fate of his character in the popular drama “Yellowstone” after the premiere of season 5, part 2 on Sunday night.

The writers killed off Costner’s character, John Dutton, in a death that’s indicated to be a suicide but could have been a setup that covered up a murder. The 69-year-old actor said in an interview with SiriusXM’s “The Michael Smerconish Program” on Monday that he had no idea how the writers would handle his exit.

“I’m going to be perfectly honest. I didn’t know it was actually airing last night,” Costner said. “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’m thinking, ‘Gee, I’m not in that one.’ I’m not in this season.”

The actor had already discussed being done with “Yellowstone” after filming the first half of season 5.

“I didn’t see it,” he said of the latest episode. “I heard it’s a suicide, so that doesn’t make me want to rush to go see it,” Costner added. 

Smerconish said that Dutton didn’t seem like “a suicide kind of guy,” prompting the actor to discuss the writers, saying, “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 said he had previously discussed “endings” for the character but did not talk about the idea of suicide. Ultimately, he said how writers handled Dutton’s death was “their business,” per Variety.

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Many fans were furious over the popular character’s departure from the show, as The Daily Wire previously reported.

“John Dutton deserved to go out like a gladiator, not a victim. Completely undoes the series. I’m not a fan at all how #Yellowstone handled Costner’s departure,” one person wrote.

“John Dutton was a fantastic character, and despite the Kevin Costner drama, he deserved a better goodbye than Yellowstone gave him,” a second fan agreed.

The actor cited scheduling conflicts as his main reason for leaving “Yellowstone.” Costner devoted a lot of time to his Western movie series, “Horizon,” which has so far gotten mixed reviews from critics and fans. 

The actor previously said he was open to returning to “Yellowstone.”