‘Yellowstone’ reveals fate of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton after actor’s exit

Yellowstone wasted no time revealing the fate of Kevin Costner‘s character, John Dutton, as season 5 continued Sunday night.

During the premiere episode for the back half of the show’s fifth season — the first new episode in nearly two years — it was confirmed early on that Costner’s John Dutton, the central patriarch figure of the show, was dead.

How did John die? A gun was found next to his blood-splattered body at his Montana ranch. While initially believed to have been a suicide, it was later revealed via a flashback that John was murdered.

Turns out Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) orchestrated a hit on John and for it to be staged as a suicide, a plan she and Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) had previously cooked up.

Jamie — who had been going hard against his father in the first half of season 5 — was tearful about John’s death before Sarah told him it was her doing, and he seemed shocked that she’d gone through with it.

John’s death and how it happened have drawn a line in the sand between Jamie and his siblings, Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) and Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly), who have their sights set on him moving forward.

Following some behind-the-scenes drama on the series, Costner revealed in a social media post in June that he wouldn’t be returning to Yellowstone for “season 5B or into the future.”

“It was something that really changed me. I loved it and I know you loved it,” Costner said of the show. “I just want to let you know that I won’t be returning. I love the relationship we’ve been able to develop, and I’ll see you at the movies.”