'Yellowstone' returned on Sunday night and quickly revealed the fate of Kevin Costner's character John Dutton, following the actor's exit from the show. We're breaking down just what happened during the premiere and how producers kept the big secret.
WARNING! Major Yellowstone spoilers ahead.
WARNING! Major Yellowstone spoilers ahead.
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00:00Yellowstone returned Sunday night and quickly revealed the fate of Kevin Costner's character
00:04John Dutton, following the actor's exit from the show. We're breaking down just
00:08what happened during the premiere and how producers kept the big secret.
00:13WARNING! MAJOR YELLOWSTONE SPOILERS AHEAD! Right out of the gate, Sunday's premiere revealed that
00:18John Dutton has indeed died, and it initially appears that he has taken his own life.
00:23However, it turns out Sarah Atwood, the fixer-girlfriend of estranged Dutton brother
00:27Jamie, put a hit out on John following the explosive midseason finale and instructed
00:32her murder-for-hire to make John's death appear to be a suicide. Sunday's episode
00:36ended with Beth vowing once again to kill Jamie. Executive producer Christina Voros,
00:41who directed The Hour, told The Hollywood Reporter how the show kept the big reveal a secret.
00:46We didn't talk about it as a death. Anytime there is a death or some sort of event,
00:50we called it an arrival. And we gave John's character a pseudonym. We called him Crosby.
00:55We were calling the opening scene, Beth discovers that Crosby has arrived.
00:59It was on the call sheets and the crew were like, who is Crosby and where's he coming from?
01:03As for the origin of the pseudonym, she said,
01:06I did some random research. John Skyler Crosby was the last governor of Montana before Montana
01:11was turned into a state in the 1800s. It was a very random, obscure, esoteric reference by
01:16Taylor Sheridan. Ahead of the big reveal, the cast spoke to THR at their red carpet premiere
01:21for part two of season five about how they thought the show's audience might react to
01:25John Dutton's fate. I think like the rest of us, they're going to be
01:29bummed. You know, that's a big presence. That's Kevin Costner. He's an icon.
01:34He's John Dutton. He's the he's the rock, the patriarch of the family.
01:38And it's hard to imagine the show without him. But that was always where the show was headed. It was
01:43can these kids do it without him? You know, so we all knew it was going to get there. We just didn't
01:48know how or when. And clearly it was different than we thought. But what it did do was ramp the
01:54show up to a 10. And now, you know, everything starts to unravel. You know, it's going to be
02:00difficult. I think a lot, you know, a lot like for Jamie, whose his whole focus in the world was on
02:05John Dutton. And I think at times the show feels like that. And, you know, we definitely we miss
02:10him. He's a huge part of the show and a great guy to have around and wonderful to work with. And so,
02:16you know, I wish him all luck in the world, but we definitely miss him.
02:19As for what viewers can expect from next week's episode, Voros said,
02:22I think there's a lot to unravel. There is a map that has to be drawn as to how to move forward.
02:27And I think the next episode begins to outline the way that map is drawn.
02:31For much more on this story, go to THR.com. This is The Hollywood Reporter News.