Yellowstone says goodbye to Kevin Costner

Editor's Note: This story contains spoilers for the debut of the second half of Season 5 of “Yellowstone.”

CNN
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We now know the fate of Kevin Costner's John Dutton in Yellowstone.

The long-delayed second half of season five debuted on Sunday. Shortly into the episode, the audience learns that Dutton, the family patriarch, has died of a gunshot wound.

While it is initially believed that Dutton died by his own hand, it is later revealed that he was actually murdered as part of a plot involving Sarah Atwood (played by Dawn Olivieri), who was in a romantic relationship with Jamie Dutton ( Wes Bentley).

Costner confirmed in June that he would not be returning for the new season.

The actor made the announcement in a video he shared on Instagram.

“I just want to reach out and let you know that after this long year and a half of working on 'Horizon,' I've done everything necessary and thought about 'Yellowstone,' which is the beloved series that I love and I know you love,” Costner said. “I just realized I can’t continue Season 5b or in the future.”

The western “Horizon: An American Saga” was the first of Costner's planned multi-part film series, but in the end it was not successful at the box office.

On Monday, Costner appeared on Sirius' “The Michael Smerconish Program.”

“Actually, I found out about it this morning,” he said.

Costner added that he still hasn't seen the episode but was made aware of the nature of Dutton's death, which “doesn't make me rush to watch it.”

“That’s their business,” he said. “I played it for five seasons – I didn’t even know I would do it that long. There have been a few times where I have talked about possible endings for myself.”

“Yellowstone” viewers took to social media to lament the loss of Costner’s character and how he was eliminated from the series.

Some of his cast members shared the sadness.

“It’s hard to imagine the show without him. But that's where the show always went. It was: Can these kids do it without him?” Luke Grimes, who plays Kayce Dutton, told The Independent.

“So we all knew it was going to happen, we just didn't know how or when, and it was definitely different than we thought,” Grimes said. “But what it did was elevate the show to a 10, and now it’s all starting to unravel.”

“Yellowstone” airs on Paramount and is available for purchase on-demand on Prime Video.