'Yellowstone': Will John Dutton Die Amid Alleged Kevin Costner Dispute?

John Dutton has almost died multiple times in the first four and a half seasons of Yellowstone, but he might just finally meet his end soon. Kevin Costner reportedly wanted to spend a week filming for the second half of Season 5, which would put extra pressure on co-creator Taylor Sheridan to write around John if he's not killed. Costner, a filmmaker first, is working on his own Western project, the ambitious multi-part film epic Horizon.

As one of the most powerful people in Montana, John has been the target of his rivals throughout the soapy Yellowstone. At the end of Season 3, he was shot up by the side of the road and left for dead. However, Sheridan was not done with Costner yet, and Season 4 revealed that John survived. In Season 5, John became Montana's governor. However, the Season 5 premiere still saw a death. Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and Kayce's (Luke Grimes) new son, also named John Dutton, died before he was born after a car accident.

Costner was frequently asked about John dying in the past, and he usually had a coy answer. "Well, I don't want to die," he told Extra before Season 5 premiered. "There's just too much to do. In terms of this story, I don't know where that's gonna go. I haven't really thought about that. I mean everybody dies but it's how you live."

The idea that John's life might be coming to an end soon came after Deadline reported on Monday that Yellowstone might come to an end because of Costner's scheduling requests. During the first four seasons, he limited himself to 65 days of shooting, but he only wanted to shoot for 50 days during the first half of Season 5. The two-time Oscar winner only wanted to work a week for the second part of Yellowstone Season 5.

This might not have been that big a deal if Costner didn't play such a crucial role in the series. His scheduling proposals reportedly caused frustration with Sheridan and the Yellowstone cast. Paramount Network declined Costner's recent proposal and decided to move on with another chapter of the Yellowstone saga, sources told Deadline. Yellowstone could end with its fifth season, but that's not set in stone yet.

The Yellowstone franchise also includes the prequel series 1883 and 1923, which have been big hits for Paramount+. 1923 was also released for a second season, and Sheridan is reportedly planning a series set during the 1940s and 1960s. Sheridan also has 6666, a contemporary spinoff set at the Four Sixes Ranch that will star Jefferson White, and Bass Reeves, starring David Oyelowo as the real-life first Black deputy U.S. marshall. Matthew McConaughey is reportedly in talks to star in a new Yellowstone series that could replace the main series, but it's unclear who he will play.

"We have no news to report," a Paramount Network spokesperson told Deadline Monday. "Kevin Costner is a big part of Yellowstone and we hope that's the case for a long time to come. Thanks to the brilliant mind of Taylor Sheridan, we are always working on franchise expansions of this incredible world he has built. Matthew McConaughey is a phenomenal talent with whom we'd love to partner."

Costner isn't asking for less time on Yellowstone because he doesn't want to work. It's because he's making his latest ambitious film project, Horizon, a multi-part Western he wrote with Jon Baird that Warner Bros. Pictures will release. The all-star cast includes Costner, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Thomas Haden Church, Jena Malone, Danny Huston, Michael Rooker, and Costner's 13-year-old son Hayes. This will mark Costner's first directing effort since Open Range, and just his fourth movie as a director. He also directed the Oscar-winning Dances with Wolves (1990) and The Postman (1997). Fans will just have to wait until later this year when Yellowstone Season 5 returns to see if John has seen the Montana horizon for the last time.