Yellowstone wasted no time at all in explaining Kevin Costner‘s absence from the second part of Season 5, which premiered Sunday on Paramount Network.
Much to the shock of fans everywhere, the opening moments of the episode revealed John Dutton died by suicide off-screen.
Costner, who exited the show during its two-year, mid-season hiatus, addressed his character’s fate today in an interview on SiriusXM’s The Michael Smerconish Program.
Costner admitted that he “didn’t know it was actually airing last night.”
“Sometimes I’m like just a passenger in my life, you know, there’s a lot going on,” he told host Michael Smerconish. “So no, I found out about it this morning actually.”
He explained that he was not aware that the shocking death was in store for his character, though he suggested “a couple” of “possible endings” for John over the years.
“No, I didn’t see it. I heard it’s a suicide, so that doesn’t make me want to rush to go see it,” Costner said.
But he did defend the team behind Yellowstone despite the fan backlash to his character’s passing.
“Listen, they’re smart people. Whatever they’re doing, they’ll figure it out,” he said.
As Smerconish pressed Costner over whether or not he was “displeased” with John’s fate, Costner simply said, “Maybe it’s a red herring. Who knows? They’re very good. And they’ll figure that out.”
He later denied that he quit Yellowstone at all. He explained that he tried to stay on the show despite it undergoing several changes after Season 5, Part 1.
But he said he eventually had to back out because he had his own “obligations” to the crew of “300 people” working on his passion project, Horizon: An American Saga.
“I didn’t really have to leave anything behind,” he said. “There was room, but it was difficult for them to keep their schedule. It seemed to be, it was just too difficult for them to do it.”
“I didn’t leave. I didn’t quit the show,” he outrightly clarified at one point of the interview. He said he “accommodated” them on the unspecified changes they wanted to make to the contracts
But, “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. I just simply couldn’t help them. But I didn’t quit the show. “
This is reportedly the final season of Yellowstone. But recent reports note Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser, who play John Dutton’s daughter and son-in-law, are being eyed as the new series leads amid Costner’s exit.
The cast also appears hopeful that the show will be renewed for more episodes. But for now, it looks like Costner’s dreams of continuing John’s story have officially been dashed.
