No harm, no foul, eh?
It’s no secret that the final season of Yellowstone will be getting underway next month, and between the 2-year hiatus and the departure of lead actor Kevin Costner, fans are less than enthused. Read any of the comments on any internet platform and you’ll find tons of fans who are simply no longer interested in Yellowstone without its patriarch, John Dutton.
And it’s not hard to understand why… but according to some of the cast members, this was the way it was probably going to go down anyways. Taylor Sheridan said years ago that he would never drag this thing out for the sake of popularity, and that he had already written the entire story in his head. Simply put… he knew the ending, and it sounds like the end of John Dutton was always in the cards.
Actress Kelly Reilly recently confirmed as much.
In a conversation with Entertainment Weekly, Kelly Reilly, who plays John’s fierce daughter Beth Dutton, said that Costner’s exit didn’t affect the story all that much, because John Dutton was already bound to exit in one way or another. Long story short… he wasn’t gonna be there anyways. Seems like Sheridan might’ve had to move some things around, but the end of John was always gonna be where the story was going.
She said:
“The absence was part of the ending. That’s not something that we had to pivot, that was already written into the tapestry of the story. It was always going to happen, it just happened a little bit differently.”
She also adds that the vision was always for the show to be 5 seasons:
“It was always going to be five seasons in Sheridan’s head, but because the show became so successful, the network and everyone wanted more. So, in a way, fate took it and we ended this part of Yellowstone in a way that he always envisioned it to end.”
And that may be the case, but don’t you think knowing that ahead of time kind of ruins the experience? Will John die, won’t John die, will the Dutton empire fall as many great empires do? That was always the big question and it sounds like Costner’s exit from the show all but confirmed it, robbing viewers of the chance to experience it in real time. Whether it was going to be that way or not, it’s still kinda letdown…
Nevertheless, the script has been extremely secretive, and the cast has raved about the final season so I guess we’ll find out next month when Yellowstone returns.
The new, and final, season premiere on November 10th, on Paramount Network.
And if you’re a fan of the hit series Yellowstone, be sure to check out our Yellowstone The Soundtrack Playlist, updated in real time each week as new episodes air.
