Why Is Kevin Costner Not In Yellowstone This Season?

The first episode of Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 is now live on Paramount Plus and for the fans of Yellowstone, it is a pretty huge deal. However, fans who have been following Yellowstone for a while now are a little bit disappointed with the absence of Kevin Costner in the new season. So, what is the reason behind Kevin Costner being absent from Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2? Let’s find out!

Is John Dutton Dead in Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2?

By the start of the first episode of Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2, we get to see that John Dutton is dead and his body has been found. According to the circumstances, it seems as if John committed suicide by shooting himself in the head using his pistol.

Beth believes that Jamie is the one who got John killed. However, later on, it is revealed that Sarah Atwood was the one who initiated the hit on Dutton. Talking to Jamie, she implied that she only acted on Jamie’s wish which he made out of agitation.

We can see that like always, Sarah is manipulating Jamie to believe she did the right thing by getting John killed and now we will have to wait for further episodes to see if Jamie buys into what she is selling or tells Beth and Kayce that she is the one behind the death of their father.

Even the scene of John Dutton’s death was seemingly shot with a body double as his face was never shown and we only see his hand in the scene. This is because Kevin Costner was not available for Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2.

Kevin Costner Will Not Return In Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2

Some time back it was confirmed that Kevin Costner had officially exited Yellowstone and would not be reappearing as John Dutton in Season 5 Part 2. There have been multiple for his exit one of which is that he wanted to put all his focus on his dream project on the Southern movie series Horizon. Since the shooting for Yellowstone took a lot of time he had not been able to work on his projects resulting in his exit from the show.

There had also been some pay disputes between the creators of the show and Kevin, among some of the reasons for his exit. It is somewhat of a disappointment for fans to not see Costner on screen but under any circumstances, the show must go on.

It was also rumored that a new lead actor could replace John Dutton in the Yellowstone universe for further spinoffs that are pipeline.