Taylor Sheridan’s Latest 'Yellowstone' Twist Has Fans Back on Track Following Kevin Costner’s Departure

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

After half of the fifth season of Yellowstone was filmed, series creator Taylor Sheridan faced a major impasse. The star of his show, Kevin Costner, had left to focus on his Western movie Horizon and he was left to pick up the pieces.

“I’m disappointed,” Sheridan told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2023. “It truncates the closure of his character. It doesn’t alter it, but it truncates it.”

As a result, Sheridan not only had to find a way to write off Costner’s character John Dutton, but had to make the rest of the season stand-alone and capture viewers without Costner in sight. But, as viewers of the show can attest to, Sheridan’s twists and turns have them at the edge of their seats.

In the first episode of the second part of the season, viewers learned what happened to John. The series opened with members of the Dutton family arriving at John’s mansion, pushing past cops to see a body lying on the floor of the bathroom, a gun on the ground and blood spattered on the walls.

While John’s death was initially ruled a suicide – with even Costner himself labeling it as such in an interview – the season’s newest episode, episode 11, saw John’s son Kayce uncovering that it was a homicide in the hands of Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) instead.

Shortly after the news of the homicide was announced by the police, Sarah began to tie loose ends and called John’s other son, Jamie. While on the phone with him, however, she gets interrupted by a seemingly lost couple who pulls out a gun and kills her instead. Shocking, we know.

“Ding dong, the b— is dead,” wrote one viewer on X. “Justice is coming!”

“Yellowstone is one the few shows that went MIA for years between seasons & came back w/ a bang!” another fan applauded. “Viewership is great. Although John Dutton’s exit wasn’t ideal, the writing, vibes, music, drama & how it portrays ranching life is A+.”

As it turns out, while Sarah’s murder in cold blood certainly surprised viewers, the actress knew her tragic fate was in the cards for a while now.

“I tend to play that character that you love to hate, and that character is always setting up the hero to win,” Olivieri told Daily Mail. “And, how does the hero win? It’s sort of the symbiotic relationship that goes part and parcel with the villain, or the antagonist. I always sort of know it’s coming, and to read it [in the script] is like, ‘OK, here we go.'”

With only three episodes of the show to go, it’s safe to say viewers are tuned in as ever, with or without Costner.

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