Welp. If you’re here, I’m guessing you’ve watched “Desire is All You Need,” the latest episode of Yellowstone after that ridiculously long mid-season break — seriously, some of us have gaping social lives to fill here. Since announcing his impending departure this summer, many of us have been wondering how they’d fill the massive boots of John Dutton. Or let’s be honest: We were hoping it was a sick joke and that our favorite patriarch and Dilf would turn up like nothing changed. A little delulu, perhaps. Be warned: spoilers for season 5, episode 9 of Yellowstone incoming

But it was no jest; John is gone, and now drama was brewing both on and off our screens. What is all the tea with Kevin Costner, Taylor Sheridan, and the Yellowstone cast?

Kevin Costner Yellowstone Drama Explained

How did John Dutton die?

Image Credit: Paramount

Yeah, talk about a quick one out. Right off the bat, John Dutton is found dead. Ruh roh. Initially, it’s believed to be a suicide, but his kiddos are sus of this. For good reason, as it is later revealed that his naughty son Jamie conspired with his lover Sarah to get rid of the family patriarch. Jamie had hired assassins to kill him and stage the scene to look like a suicide. In his defense, he thought papa was gonna get him first. His [and our] daddy succumbed to a gunshot wound. We didn’t see the body, but the hand in a pool of blood with a gun said enough. Now the question remains whether Beth and Kayce get revenge for his death? It’s not a matter of if, but when.

Why did Kevin Costner leave Yellowstone?

Back in June, Costner confirmed that he wouldn’t be returning for the second half of the season in a video shared on Instagram.

“I just want to reach out and let you know that after this long year and a half of working on ‘Horizon’ and doing all the things that’s required, and thinking about ‘Yellowstone,’ that beloved series that I love, that I know you love,” Costner wrote. “I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue Season 5b or into the future.”

He’s referring to Horizon: An American Saga, the first of his multi-part film series which he wrote, directed, starred, and paid for. Erm, let’s just say part one did not do well at the box office… It was COSTly. It’s a four-part series about the Civil War that seems to be vibes over sustenance. The film also stars Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, and Giovanni Ribisi.

Then, in an interview on Sirius XM’s The Michael Smerconish Program, Costner dropped the bomb that he hadn’t known the specifics of his character’s fate. He found out with the rest of us! He hasn’t watched the episode and apparently doesn’t want to.

“That’s their business,” he said. “I gave it five seasons – I didn’t even know I was going to do it that long. There was a couple times where I talked about possible endings for myself.”

Was it Kevin Costner’s choice, though?

That’s where things get a little sticky. Costner claims he was still up for doing the show despite his big commitments to Horizon and that the issue was on their side. Taylor Sheridan, the show’s creator and writer, is managing multiple television shows right now. Costner claimed he provided the showmakers with a week in which he could film, amongst his new work, divorce and child-support hearings (yikes). Costner then infers that Sheridan couldn’t get the scripts together in time for that.

“There was the time there, what happened, you can deal with it,” he explained. “But I didn’t leave. I didn’t quit the show. OK? I had made a contract to do all three. There was a contract in place to do all three. And within about an eight-month period, two more different kind of contracts were being negotiated. Not at my request, but at their request to try to do things.”

Apparently, Costner has found issues with the filming schedule for a while now. “We very rarely started when we said we would and we didn’t finish when we said we would,” he told GQ in May 2024.

BUT others say that Costner had a lot of, erm, feedback on the scripts, and that he got COVID-19, which halted filming. According to Vulture, Costner demanded a pay increase, a decrease in shooting time, and the right to approve or potentially veto all of the scripts for the season. Shockingly, showrunner Sheridan didn’t love that final idea, and rumors have suggested the two have had beef for a while now.

Sheridan spoke out on the matter without saying much at all. “My opinion of Kevin as an actor hasn’t altered,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “Once lawyers get involved, then people don’t get to talk to each other and start saying things that aren’t true and attempt to shift blame based on how the press or public seem to be reacting.”

Viewers are pissed over how the show handled Costner’s exit in the Season 5, Part 2 premiere. They’ve taken to social media to slam Sheridan and argue that Costner’s character deserved a better ending.

What will happen to Yellowstone?

I hate to be the one to tell you this, bestie, but the biggest hit on TV seems to be coming to an end. Yep, this is why we can’t have nice things. The part two of season five premiered on November 10, 2024, and according to Paramount, this will conclude the series. Maybe Costner was the right to leave while the going was good.

However this isn’t a result of his departure, as his co-stars seem to think the show can function just fine without him.

“It’s hard to imagine the show without him. But that’s always where the show was headed. It was, can these kids do it without him?” Luke Grimes, who plays Kayce Dutton, told The Independent. “So we all knew it was going to get there, we just didn’t know how or when, and clearly it was different than what we thought. But what it did do was ramp the show up to a 10 and now everything starts to unravel.”

Things are gonna go Succession style now as the family fight for control of Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, only with less boardrooms and more lassos.

But don’t fret, Paramount confirmed in November 2023 that it has ordered two Yellowstone spinoffs, currently titled 1944 and 2024. Furthermore, it’s heavily hinted that we can expect to see the one, the only, Matthew McConaughey in either of these!!!

Well, we shall see what’s next for the fam, as plenty of other drama was introduced in this episode. However, I wouldn’t count on seeing our boy, John Dutton again. And in the words of Sassy Sheridan to Costner, “I sure hope [the movie is] worth it — and that it’s a good one” — literally savage. It’s giving Gwyneth Paltrow at the ski trial, “I wish you well.”