Was Kevin Costner’s John Dutton Always Supposed To Die In Yellowstone?

“Inevitably, at some point, he was going to die.”Executive producer Christina Voros confirmed John Dutton’s death was inevitable in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. When asked about John’s death, Voros said it was always supposed to be part of the conclusion, because Kayce’s (Luke Grimes) solution wouldn’t have been possible without his father’s passing. She said, “Inevitably, at some point, he was going to die,” and, “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.”

While it’s evident that John’s death was part of the story Yellowstone set out to tell, it’s tempting to think about what could have happened if John Dutton lived. If the governor had somehow avoided the attack on his life, he would have continued fighting for the ranch, regardless of whether his adopted son, Jamie (Wes Bentley), the attorney general for Montana, successfully impeached him. If John had survived, perhaps he would have finally listened to Beth (Kelly Reilly), who said the ranch needed to turn a profit and enact her business plans, giving John the capital to continue.

Technically, if John had lived and maintained his claim on the land, the end of Yellowstone season 5 could still have fulfilled Taylor Sheridan’s prophecy in 1883. In a conversation between John’s ancestor, James Dutton (Tim McGraw), and Spotted Eagle (Gil Birmingham), the Crow elder tells Dutton that he can settle the Paradise Valley, but that his people will rise and take it in seven generations, to which James replies they can have it. John’s ranch would have passed to Kayce eventually, then Tate (Brecken Merrill), restoring stewardship of the land to the Crows’ descendants after seven generations.