Everything Kevin Costner said about his death in Yellowstone National Park

Kevin Costner is not on Yellowstone more, but he I still have some thoughts about the direction the series took his character John Dutton after his exit.

The Oscar winner confirmed his departure from the Paramount Network drama in June 2024, after months of speculation about whether he would appear in the final episodes of season five.

“After this long year and a half of work horizon and do whatever is required and think about it Yellowstonethis beloved series that I love and that I know you love,” Costner began in a video shared on social media at the time. “I just realized that I can no longer continue Season 5B or in the future. It was something that really changed me. I loved it. And I know you liked it. I just wanted to let you know that I will not be returning. I love the relationship we’ve been able to build and I’ll see you at the movies.”

Rumors of Costner’s departure began in early 2023 following the conclusion of Season 5A. Reports circulated that Costner disagreed with Yellowstone co-creator Taylor Sheridan about the timing of production, which overlapped with the filming of Costner’s four-parter horizon Film saga. The duo denied any bad blood, but Sheridan later said so he was “disappointed” that Costner had no interest in continuing the show.

While Sheridan said in June 2023 that he doesn’t do “f-you car accidents” in his lyrics, he still killed John Dutton in the Season 5 premiere, although not in a car accident. On the November 10, 2024 episode, fans immediately learned that John was murdered by a hitman hired by Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri). The hitman staged the scene to look like a suicide, but Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Kayce (Luke Grimes) immediately suspected that everything was not as it seemed.

Costner, meanwhile, claims he hasn’t seen the episode but has been sharing his thoughts on it since it aired. Keep scrolling to find out everything he said about John’s death:

Not that interested

The day after the Season 5 premiere aired, Costner said he was unaware that the first episode finally premiered without him. “I’ll be completely honest. I didn’t know it actually aired last night,” he said during an interview on SiriusXM on November 11, 2024 The Michael Smerconish Program. “This is a moment I swear to God. I’ve seen ads with my face everywhere and I’m like, ‘Man, I’m not in that.’ But I didn’t know it was yesterday.”

He noted that he hadn’t seen the episode but had heard what happened, quipping, “I heard it was a suicide, so I don’t want to rush to watch it.”

Praise for the authors

In the same interview, Costner praised the Yellowstone Team for always coming up with good stories – and hinted that he knew John’s “suicide” might not be what it looks like. “They’re pretty smart people,” he said. “Maybe it’s a diversionary tactic. Who knows? They are very good. And they will find out.”

Kudos to the fans

When the second episode of season five aired, Costner shared his thoughts on fans’ reaction to John’s fate. “Fans have a voice and choose to follow things.” he told AND! News on November 17, 2024.

The actor continued that he informed Sheridan about John’s death “some time ago” but had no part in what is happening now. “They do what they want to do,” he said. “That’s fine with me.”

No thoughts

During an interview on November 17, 2024 with Entertainment tonightCostner confirmed that he still hadn’t seen the episode in which John dies. “I haven’t watched it, so I don’t really have any thoughts about it,” he joked.

Release

Costner reiterated his lack of feelings towards Yellowstone comes to an end.

“I don’t think about (the Yellowstone final), I don’t think I’ve thought about it,” he said in a video obtained by the website Daily Mail on December 18th. “We’ll just let it be.”