Yellowstone is set to air its highly-anticipated season 5B on Monday night, picking up where the heart-racing finale of part one left off.
Fans of the neo-western can catch the premiere in Australia at 6:30pm AEDT on Stan, with many eager viewers likely tuning in with one burning question on their minds.
How will Dutton patriarch John leave the show following actor Kevin Costner’s shock exit from the series?
The finale of the first half of season five ended in nail-biting scenes as Beth Dutton and her brother Jamie declared war on one another and promised their feud would end with one of them dying.
But with John now expected to leave the show, will it really be one of his children who risk being killed off in the coming season?
A report from Showbiz 411 earlier this year suggests not.
The publication claimed Costner’s John will ‘meet a similar fate’ to that of Brian Cox’s Logan Roy on HBO’s Succession, who was shockingly killed off in the third episode of the show’s final season.
Despite the speculation, showrunners Taylor Sheridan and John Linson have gone to extreme lengths to prevent any leaks that may spoil the events of season 5B, let alone the circumstances in which they handle Costner’s departure.
And while fans have been busy speculating how lead star Costner, 69, will bow out as one of the lead characters, it turns out that some of the show’s actors are equally intrigued as to how the storyline will be wrapped up.
Yellowstone is set to air its highly- anticipated season 5B on Monday night, picking up where the heart-racing finale of part one left off. Pictured: Kevin Costner as John Dutton
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com at the Yellowstone premiere at Museum of Metropolitan Art in New York on Thursday night, John Emmet Tracy, who plays Ellis Steele on the series, revealed he and many others in the cast have been ‘left in the dark’ over the show’s conclusion.
With the final half of the popular Western set to launch tonight, he shared: ‘I don’t know how the season ends. A lot of people were sort of kept in the dark.
‘In fact, even with some of the episodes that we’re in, you don’t see the scenes before yours or the scenes after.
‘So, we’re going to get the chance to see an episode tonight and everybody’s excited here.’
Fans of the neo-western can catch the premiere in Australia at 6:30pm AEDT on Stan , with many eager viewers likely tuning in with one burning question on their minds. Pictured: Kelly Reilly as Beth Dutton
Tracy, 55, added: ‘In fact, I was just talking to some of the other actors and everyone’s saying, “Did anybody tell you?” And so, it’s going to be fun to get together in there and watch the episode.’
Costner shocked fans across the globe in June when he announced he would not be returning for the back half of the fifth season to instead focus on his own Western film, Horizon.
In the short clip shared on his social media pages, he said: ‘I just want to reach out and let you know that after this long year and a half of working on Horizon and doing all the things that’s required, and thinking about Yellowstone—that beloved series that I love, that I know you love—I just realized that I’m not going to be able to continue season 5B or into the future.’
He continued: ‘It was something that really changed me. I loved it, and I know you loved it.
‘I just wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning.’
How will Dutton patriarch John leave the show following actor Kevin Costner ‘s shock exit from the series?
Costner, who has led the cast as patriarch John Dutton since 2018, departed the series after five years of starring on the show.
The actor’s future on Yellowstone had been under intense scrutiny since earlier this year amid an alleged rift with Sheridan, the co-creator of the show.
At the time of his departure, the second half of season five had yet to be finished, with the uncertainty of how the series would move forward without Costner causing much confusion and frustration.
In April, DailyMail.com reported new details about Costner’s rift with Yellowstone creator Sheridan.
Sources claimed Sheridan developed a ‘God complex’ which left Costner reportedly frustrated with the development of the hit series.
The outlet also claimed morale had been dwindling among the cast as they were not kept up to date on Costner’s negotiations with producers.
Costner shocked fans across the globe in June when he announced he would not be returning for the back half of the fifth season to instead focus on his own Western film, Horizon
‘Kevin will forever be proud of and grateful for Yellowstone and the cast is like family to him,’ the source said of Costner, who recently nabbed a Golden Globe Award for best actor for his portrayal of John Dutton.
‘He just felt like Yellowstone is headed in a direction that was not in line with their initial vision and he was met with criticism, including that he should just stick to acting.’
Earlier in the year, the New York Post reported that Costner’s desire to cut down his workload on the fifth season to focus on other projects was also to blame for the tension between him and Sheridan.
‘It’s the same as with any showrunner and big star—there’s respect, but there’s friction,’ a source described as ‘well-placed’ within the production told the outlet.
Costner is currently directing and starring in Horizon, a Western film series consisting of four separate movies.
Each film is close to three hours long and after the quadruple release, Horizon is going to be broken into a series for television—each with 42-minute episodes.
Costner’s future on the show has been under intense scrutiny amid an alleged rift with Taylor Sheridan (pictured), the co-creator of the show
Another ‘highly placed’ Hollywood source told the outlet that some of the blame for the ‘friction’ on set lies with its creator.
‘Taylor is the star of his show. He’s the most important person on all of his shows,’ they said.
Deadline reported in February that Costner wanted to shoot for only a week on the second half of season five, after he had already shortened his work on the first half.
The apparent reason was that the actor wanted to focus on his upcoming Western film franchise Horizon.
But Costner’s attorney Marty Singer shot back after the report and claimed to Puck News that it was an ‘absolute lie’ that his client would only shoot for a week.
‘As everyone who knows anything about Kevin is well aware, he is incredibly passionate about the show and has always gone way above and beyond to ensure its success,’ he said at the time.
Speculation has been building as fans wonder how John will be killed off in the wake of Costner’s exit, and how his family will continue to run the ranch without him
Other inside sources have claimed that Sheridan’s lack of preparation has caused major delays with the production of the show—with one suggesting Costner had made himself readily available to shoot, only for the creator’s own ‘overburdened’ schedule to get in the way.
They added that Sheridan was ‘overburdened’ and ‘nothing was ready’ even after Costner ‘made himself available’.
They said that Costner was prepared to shoot the second half of the season sometime last year, as well as in January of this year, but there were allegedly no completed scripts to shoot at the time.
‘Kevin’s been extremely cooperative with working with Taylor and his production company, 101 Studios. They were supposed to shoot the second chapter of season five late last year, but they just didn’t have the scripts,’ a source told the Post.
‘Kevin had already committed to making his other movies. He had given the producers his schedule. There was nothing to shoot.’
Created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, Yellowstone follows the Dutton family, owners of the largest ranch in Montana, commonly known as The Yellowstone.
The plot revolves around family drama at the ranch, as well as the conflicts along the ranch’s shared border with the Broken Rock Indian reservation, Yellowstone National Park, and land developers.
The series premiered in Australia on Stan in 2018, and has been a huge hit for the streaming service since its inception.
