Kevin Costner reacts to John Dutton’s fate on Yellowstone: ‘I didn’t see it’

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Yellowstone season 5, part 2 premiere.

Who better to talk about John Dutton’s fate than the man who played the Yellowstone patriarch, Kevin Costner?

While speaking with Michael Smerconish on SiriusXM, Costner spoke about his character’s ending on Yellowstone, admitting he had no idea that the season 5, part 2 premiere aired on Sunday night.

“I’m going to be perfectly honest. I didn’t know it was actually airing last night,” Costner explained to Smerconish. “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.”

What does Kevin Costner @modernwest really think about the fate of his character, Governor #JohnDutton, in #Yellowstone? Get his candid thoughts on the season 5 midseason premiere, and stay tuned for the full #interview coming soon! pic.twitter.com/4ltTfvhoBf

— Michael Smerconish (@smerconish) November 11, 2024

What actually happened to John Dutton on the Yellowstone season 5, part 2 premiere? The episode wasted no time revealing that John killed himself via self-inflicted gunshot. Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) arrived at John’s mansion and learned about the tragic news with a fleet of cops on the scene.

Costner only heard about the scene this morning. When Smerconish pushed back on Taylor Sheridan’s decision to have John commit suicide, Costner said, “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 was right about the suicide as a red herring. In the episode, Beth and Kayce were very skeptical, believing their father would never kill himself. Their intuition was proven true because John did not commit suicide. Instead, John was murdered by a hit man hired by Jamie Jamie (Wes Bentley) and his fixer girlfriend Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri). The duo orchestrated the hit and paid the killer to make it look like a suicide.

The next episode of Yellowstone airs on Paramount Network at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday, November 17.