8 Big Name Actors Taylor Sheridan Killed Off In Yellowstone Shows

Taylor Sheridan has cast several A-list actors in his Yellowstone franchise, and quite a few have died. Sheridan started the neo-Western Montana-based franchise with his flagship Yellowstone series, beginning in 2018, which became a television sensation. With Kevin Costner as John Dutton III at its helm, Yellowstone has always been synonymous with star power, and Sheridan’s other Yellowstone series continued the trend. Sheridan followed Yellowstone with two prequels: 1883 and 1923.

With big names like Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren joining the cast of 1923 as Jacob and Cara Dutton, and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill joining the cast of 1883, the Yellowstone franchise solidified itself as a place for well-known actors to shine. However, the death that follows the Dutton family tree and its other characters is a bedrock of each Yellowstone show, causing many memorable deaths over the years. Yellowstone’s big-name stars are no exception to the franchise’s defining element.

8. Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner Plays John Dutton III In Yellowstone

Perhaps the most memorable death in the Yellowstone franchise is Kevin Costner’s John Dutton. John Dutton is the soul of the neo-Western franchise, leading his family through the hardships of modern times while desperately trying to maintain his hold on his family’s legacy, the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. As such, John Dutton’s death in Yellowstone season 5 was a defining and memorable moment, changing the franchise forever.

Shockingly, John Dutton’s death came at the beginning of Yellowstone season 5, part 2, starting the events of the original show’s final season. Fans were devastated to see Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone exit. Still, it’s worth noting that Kevin Costner’s John Dutton was always supposed to die in Yellowstone so that his son, Kayce (Luke Grimes), could enact his plan to relinquish his family’s heirloom ranch to the ancestors of its Indigenous stewards.

7. Danny Huston

Danny Huston Plays Dan Jenkins In Yellowstone

Losing Danny Huston’s flagship character at the end of Yellowstone season 2 was bittersweet. Huston is an award-winning actor, perhaps best known for his role in Martin Scorsese’s Leonardo DiCaprio-led The Aviator, Alfonso Cuarón’s Children of Men, and Alejandro Inarritu’s 21 Grams. Huston plays Dan Jenkins in the flagship Yellowstone series, an antagonistic but relatively harmless man who wants to build a luxury development complex next to the Yellowstone Ranch.

Dan dies at the end of Yellowstone season 2, his death the result of a targeted attack by Malcolm (Neal McDonough) and Teal Beck (Terry Serpico), two entrepreneurs in the area who didn’t want to see Dan Jenkins and Thomas Rainwater’s (Gil Birmingham) combined hotel and casino built at the gateway of the Yellowstone National Park. Still, while Dan Jenkins had been John’s adversary, he was the lesser of evils in the end, and they had teamed up to defeat the brothers before they came for Jenkins.

6. Neal McDonough

Neal McDonough Plays Malcolm Beck In Yellowstone

Neal McDonough plays Malcolm Beck, half of the Beck brothers pair who target John Dutton and Dan Jenkins due to their connections to Thomas Rainwater’s casino. Before he was Malcolm Beck, Neal McDonough’s best moves and TV shows included his role in Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report with Tom Cruise, the miniseries Band of Brothers, and NBC’s Boomtown. McDonough’s character dies in Yellowstone season 2’s finale, memorably killed by John Dutton.

John kills Malcolm Beck after he has a group of people kidnap his grandson, Tate (Brecken Merrill). We have little empathy for Beck’s character when he passes, especially after he killed an entire section of John’s cattle herd and traumatized John’s grandson. Still, John Dutton memorably leaves Malcolm Beck to die in peace, contrasting his brother’s death; Kayce Dutton shoots Teal Beck as he sits on the toilet.

5. Josh Holloway

Josh Holloway Plays Roarke Morris In Yellowstone

Josh Holloway is doubtlessly best known for playing Sawyer in ABC’s Lost from 2004 to 2010. He also has recognizable roles in action flicks like Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol with Tom Cruise and Sabotage with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Holloway plays Roarke Morris in Yellowstone, another antagonist who came after the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch and memorably sparred with Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) as a Market Equities stockholder.

Roarke also owned the nearby Cross Creek Ranch, where he was known to fish in the river. However, Rip Wheeler retaliated after Roarke hired Wade Morrow (Boots Sutherland) to cause trouble for the Yellowstone Ranch cowboys. Wheeler found Holloway’s character on the river and, after getting close to Morris, Rip killed Roarke by tossing an agitated rattlesnake at him, the venom causing the Market Equities shareholder to die quickly.

4. Sam Elliott

Sam Elliott Plays Shea Brennan In 1883

Sam Elliott, the star of Western classics like Tombstone and the made-for-TV series Conagher, had one of the most memorable deaths at the end of 1883, Taylor Sheridan’s first Yellowstone prequel. Elliott plays Shea Brennan in 1883’s story, a Union veteran and Oregon Trail wagon train leader who teams up with James Dutton (Tim McGraw) on a journey west. The expedition along the trail is Shea’s last.

At the end of 1883, Shea Brennan shot himself on the shore of the Pacific Ocean in Oregon. He wanted to look at the ocean again, believing he could share the moment with his wife, whose death we learn about in one of 1883’s opening scenes. While Shea’s is doubtlessly one of Yellowstone’s saddest deaths, the conclusion made sense for the character and the story, fitting the grim themes of the post-Civil War offshoot.

3. Timothy Dalton

Timothy Dalton Plays Donald Whitfield In 1923

Perhaps best known for appearing as James Bond in The Living Daylights and License to Kill, Timothy Dalton plays Donald Whitfield in 1923. While Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) starts the war against the 1920s Dutton family, Whitfield is the primary antagonist working against the clan, especially in 1923 season 2. He joins forces with Banner in 1923 season 1, episode 4, agreeing to fund the sheepherder’s war.

Dalton’s character dies in 1923 season 2’s finale, with Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) shooting him in his dining room for waging a war on his family, leading to his wife’s death. Whitfield is doubtlessly one of Yellowstone’s fiercest villains, and Dalton plays the role brilliantly. While his character was controversial, 1923 surely wouldn’t have been the same without Dalton’s role, including Whitfield’s memorable death.

2. Wes Bentley

Wes Bentley Plays Jamie Dutton In Yellowstone

Wes Bentley has memorable roles in iconic films, such as playing Ricky Fitts in American Beauty, Seneca Crane in The Hunger Games, and Doyle in Interstellar. Still, Bentley has also become synonymous with Yellowstone, playing John’s adopted son, Jamie Dutton. While Jamie starts as a somewhat neutral character in Yellowstone’s premiere, he quickly becomes one of the franchise’s most subtle yet dangerous villains.

After teaming up with Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) in Yellowstone season 5, Jamie is somewhat responsible for his father’s death, having spoken with Atwood about going after his family. While Jamie didn’t know that Sarah would hire a team of skilled operatives to murder his father in his sleep, Beth knows that Jamie is guilty and vows to kill him for whatever his role may be. In Yellowstone season 5’s finale, Beth follows through on her promise, stabbing Jamie with a knife in his home.

1. Faith Hill & Tim McGraw

Faith Hill & Tim McGraw Play Margaret & James Dutton In 1883

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw are two of the greatest country musicians of modern times. Taylor Sheridan cast the country superstars in his earliest Yellowstone prequel, 1883, which they spearheaded as the Yellowstone power couple James and Margaret Dutton. In the saga, the couple journeys on the Oregon Trail with their children, Elsa (Isabel May) and John (Audie Rick), risking everything for a better life.

While James and Margaret ultimately survive 1883, establishing the Dutton Ranch in Paradise Valley with Spotted Eagle’s (Graham Greene) blessing, they die within the franchise. We learn that James Dutton dies in a shootout with bandits in a Yellowstone flashback. Then, in 1923 season 1, episode 1, Elsa Dutton tells us that after her father’s death, her uncle found her mother frozen in a snow drift, making for a pair of gruesome deaths for the country music star’s characters, fitting the time and Yellowstone’s core themes.