How Kevin Costner Feels About The Backlash Over John Dutton's Yellowstone Fate

Spoilers for "Yellowstone" follow.

Kevin Costner continues to be surprisingly active around "Yellowstone" despite the fact that the show's season 5, part 2 confirms John Dutton's death. The Paramount Network series' longtime star has already reacted to John's "Yellowstone" fate by wondering why his face is all over the advertising for a batch of episodes he's not actually in. While the actor hasn't really given his personal views about Sarah Atwood's (Dawn Olivieri) assassins killing John in a comparatively anticlimactic fashion so far, he does have a few words for the assorted fans who are less than happy about the way his character departs the neo-Western drama.

"Fans have a voice in things, and they choose to follow stuff," Costner noted regarding the fans' displeased reaction in a comment he gave to E! News at the 2024 Governors Awards. However, the actor didn't express personal frustration about the show's decision to make his character a murder victim. "They do what they want to do," he said. "That's fine with me."

Narratively speaking, Kevin Costner's John Dutton had to die on "Yellowstone" to make room for the show's endgame, which has been heavily telegraphed to take place between the character's children. Behind the scenes, the actor was also ready to move on due to his commitment to his multi-part movie series "Horizon: An American Saga," although the future of that film series remains up in the air after the first entry flopped at the box office. Besides, Costner's "Yellowstone contract's unique stipulation may have guaranteed his character an exit that the actor deems an adequately "moral death." This, combined with his hectic schedule, suggests that he may not have a reason to be personally dissatisfied with John's death in the first place — not to mention that he'd be unlikely to say so publicly while the show is still going.   

However, given that many fans have expressed their disappointment over the way the Dutton family patriarch exited the show, it's only natural for the actor to comment the situation in at least some way. Even though the comments he gave to E! News were fairly roundabout, they still showed that he knows what's up with the fandom and recognizes their frustration over John Dutton's fate. 

The final season of "Yellowstone" is currently airing on Paramount Network. While this may be the end of the main flagship series, there are multiple spinoffs in the works, although their premiere dates have yet to be confirmed.