John Dutton is dead — and fans are not happy about it.
One year after Kevin Costner made headlines for exiting “Yellowstone,” his character’s fate was revealed in Sunday’s premiere of the second half of the fifth and final season.
The episode opened with Beth Dutton, played by Kelly Reilly, finding her father’s house to be a “crime scene” and being told that he was “gone.”
She and brother Kayce Dutton, portrayed by Luke Grimes, entered the home and saw that Costner’s character had died from a gunshot wound.
A double was clearly used for the Oscar winner’s body, as his face was not shown in the scene.
While John’s death was ruled a suicide, the premiere backed up six weeks to show he was murdered by a hit man hired by Wes Bentley’s character, Jamie Dutton.
Executive producer Christina Voros told the Hollywood Reporter Sunday how “weird” it was keeping Costner’s character’s death “clandestine for so long.”
She explained, “We didn’t talk about it as a death. Any time there is a death or some sort of event, we called it an ‘arrival.’
“And we gave John’s character a pseudonym,” Voros clarified. “We called him ‘Crosby.’ We were calling the opening scene, ‘Beth discovers that Crosby has arrived.’”
She believed this was an “incredibly brave” angle for writer Taylor Sheridan to take.
“I think it is testament to his faith in the characters and the actors who embody them to go, ‘Let’s not make this about the incident. Let’s make this about how these human beings exist in the aftermath,’” Voros gushed.
Fans, however, blasted the Paramount show over John’s axing, with many calling it “so lame” despite admitting they “knew it was coming.”
The first half of Season 5 debuted in November 2022, with news breaking of Costner’s exit in May of the following year.
Confirming this to fans in June “wasn’t tough,” he told the Hollywood Reporter, noting that he does not “need drama” and wanted to “take the guessing” away.
“Yellowstone” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on Paramount Network.
