Daily Times

Yellowstone fans finally have their answer, and they’re not happy about it. The fate of John Dutton III, the character played by Kevin Costner was revealed when the show’s final run of episodes premiered Nov. 11.

While viewers knew that Costner-who led the hit Paramount+ series for four and a half seasons and exited the show halfway through season five-would no longer appear on Yellowstone, it was unclear how the series would handle his absence. And the show didn’t waste any time uncovering John’s fate during its first new episode in two years.

At the top of the episode, Costner’s character is found dead of a gunshot wound. John’s children find his body and it’s initially believed that he died by suicide. By the end of the episode, though, it’s revealed that Sarah Atwood-the girlfriend of John’s estranged son Jamie-orchestrated a murder plot against him and hired someone to kill him.

Yellowstone executive producer Christina Voros praised creator Taylor Sheridan for how he handled the difficult decision. “I think Taylor’s decision to begin this way was incredibly brave,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Nov. 10. “I think it is testament to his faith in the characters and the actors who embody them to go, ‘Let’s not make this about the incident. Let’s make this about how these human beings exist in the aftermath.’ That was more interesting to [Taylor] than the incident itself.”

John’s fate was kept top secret until the episode premiered and Voros gave insight into how the cast and crew were able to avoid any leaks.

“We didn’t talk about it as a death,” she explained. “Any time there is a death or some sort of event, we called it an ‘arrival.’ And we gave John’s character a pseudonym. We called him ‘Crosby.’ We were calling the opening scene, ‘Beth discovers that Crosby has arrived.'”

“It was on call sheets and the crew were like, ‘Who is Crosby? And where’s he coming from?'” Voros continued. “I did some random research: Crosby was the last governor of Montana before Montana was turned into a state, in the 1880s. It was a very random, obscure, esoteric reference.”

While Sheridan’s partners praised his creative call, Yellowstone viewers were not pleased with how Costner’s exit from the show was handled creatively.

“John Dutton deserved to go out like a gladiator, not a victim,” one person tweeted. “Completely undoes the series. I’m not a fan at all how #Yellowstone handled Costner’s departure.” Someone else wrote, “Truly sad that John Dutton would be killed off of #YellowstoneTV by suicide. Kevin Costner IS #Yellowstone. Shame on you Taylor Sheridan. Boo! He deserved better. And he should’ve been on this season. America can vote you out too!”

A third user said, “If THAT’S how they decide to end a great character like John Dutton… THAT’S BULLS–T.”

Added another, “The way to end his character was just dumbfounded and lazy. Could’ve been a better way or he just could’ve rode off into the sunset.” Going into the series’ final six episodes, Yellowstone’s cast knew that there would be high expectations from fans. “It feels like every year there’s been some crazy new challenges, not unlike this year,” Luke Grimes, who plays Kayce Dutton, exclusively told E! News ahead of the premiere. “There was a big, new challenge, but, you know, challenge accepted.”

Costner’s abrupt exit from Yellowstone isn’t the only shocking TV exit.