‘Yellowstone’ Director Says John Dutton Was Always Going To Die — Even if Kevin Costner Stayed

After five seasons of family drama, bloodshed, and a relentless fight for legacy, Yellowstone has reached its conclusion. Well, at least for now. The Season 5B finale, titled “Life Is a Promise,” delivered the kind of brutal bloodshed and family feuding Taylor Sheridan enjoys, with an ending that offered new beginnings as well as immense closure. But as fans deal with the fate of the Duttons and their sprawling Montana ranch, one lingering question remains: Was John Dutton’s death always inevitable? According to executive producer and director Christina Voros, the answer is yes.

In a post-finale conversation with The Hollywood Reporter, Voros explained that John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) demise was baked into the show’s DNA from the very beginning, regardless of Costner’s highly publicized departure from the series. She revealed that Sheridan had always planned for John’s death, as it was the only way to move the story—and the Dutton legacy—forward:

“My understanding is that [John’s death] was always the conclusion, because at the end of the day the solution that Kayce discovers is not a solution that would have been possible if John Dutton were alive. Inevitably, at some point, he was going to die. That is the inevitability of it. Even if there had been 17 more seasons with Kevin Costner, eventually in the story that is the saga of Yellowstone, that’s what happens. The patriarch passes and the legacy moves onto his children.”

How Did ‘Yellowstone’ End?

The finale saw Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Kayce (Luke Grimes) selling the Dutton ranch to the Indigenous Broken Rock Reservation, fulfilling a prophecy foretold by Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) in the 1883 prequel series. The voice cameo from May tied everything together from 1883 through to 1923, and then Yellowstone.

But it’s not just the Dutton ranch that found closure. Beth’s journey came to a violent climax as she fulfilled her vow of vengeance by killing her brother Jamie (Wes Bentley), even if some of us think she was the real villain all along. At the same time, Kayce (Luke Grimes) secured a quieter, hopeful ending as he finally broke free of the family’s generational burden, setting up a peaceful life with his wife and son.

Yellowstone is over for now, but there will be more to come, a lot more, in fact. Yellowstone can be streamed on Peacock, while 1883 and 1923 are available to watch now on Paramount+. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.