Breaking Down 10 Clues That Gave Away John Dutton’s Fate in Yellowstone

Yellowstone Was Building Up the Question of John’s Successor

The Series Wanted Fans to Theorize About Who Would Inherit the Ranch

Tate Dutton (Brecken Merrill) is riding his trusty steed lucky on the ranch in Yellowstone.Image via Paramount

A major question through all five seasons of Yellowstone was who would take over the Dutton ranch after John’s death. While it seemed for a time that John had a long while before he had to answer this question, the Dutton family patriarch seemed intent on making sure that someone was his clear successor. This position bounced around before John’s death, with both Rip and Tate named as John’s rightful successor at different points in the show.

While it is natural for any father to want to make sure that his affairs are in order before he passes, Yellowstone fans should have known something was up based on this recurring question. It would be odd for the series to dedicate so much time to the question of John’s succession if there were no plans to explore what would happen after his death. In hindsight, John’s inevitable death seems much clearer.

9John’s Opening Scene Foreshadows His Violent Death

Yellowstone Was Hinting at John’s Death From the Very Beginning

John Dutton stands next to a horse in Yellowstone.Image via Paramount.
In the reopening scene of Yellowstone, John Dutton emerges from a gruesome vehicular collision to discover that the horse he’d been hauling in the trailer behind him is critically injured. Lamenting that he hates being put in this position, John takes the horse out of its misery by shooting it in the head. It is a disturbing and gruesome way to kick off the series, but it may have foreshadowed a similar fate for John himself.

John Dutton’s violent death comes five seasons later, but not in unfamiliar circumstances. John would meet a similar end after being shot in the head, this time not as a mercy killing but as a cold-blooded assassination. While this could be a mere coincidence, Yellowstone hinted at John’s violent lifestyle from his very first scene, making his violent end all the more likely.

8Yellowstone Lingers on Evelyn Dutton’s Grave

A Season 5 Episode Foreshadows Another Dutton Tragedy

Evelyn Dutton rides a horse in a flashback scene in Yellowstone.Image via Paramount
Evelyn Dutton is John’s beloved late wife, who died when her children were still young. The Dutton matriarch is buried on the Yellowstone Ranch beside many other generations of Duttons who likewise died on their expansive property. While Evelyn’s death takes place long before the events of the series, it may have partially foreshadowed the early death of her husband as well.

Season 5 of Yellowstone revisits the Dutton graveyard multiple times, occasionally prompting the camera to linger for just a few moments too long on Evelyn’s gravestone. This may have been the show’s way of telegraphing that Evelyn would soon be joined by her husband, John, who would find himself buried next to her much sooner than he had anticipated.

71883 Hinted That the Duttons Would Lose Their Ranch Someday

The Duttons Would Never Lose the Ranch as Long as John Was Still Alive

The final episode of 1883 sees John Dutton Sr. purchasing what would later become the Yellowstone Ranch from the native peoples living there at the time. While the chief agrees to part with the land, he also warns Dutton that his people will rise to retake the land in seven generations. This line sets up the conflict between John Dutton III and the likes of Thomas Rainwater during the events of Yellowstone but also hints at the final fate of the Duttons and their ranch.

Beth and Kayce finally sell the ranch back to Rainwater and his people in the Yellowstone finale, fulfilling the prophecy from the end of 1883. Those who had paid attention to the prequel series knew that this would be the inevitable ending of the show. However, fans of Yellowstone should have also known that John Dutton would never part with the ranch as long as he was alive. Therefore, John had to die before the finale of the series, if only so that the other Duttons could finally part with the land.

6Taylor Sheridan Always Planned to Kill Off John Dutton

John’s Death Made Sense for Yellowstone’s Story

Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan has been open about his plans for John Dutton in the final season of the series, especially in the aftermath of Kevin Costner’s early departure. Sheridan hinted on multiple occasions that he had always planned to kill John off before the series finale. Although Costner’s exit accelerated the plans for Yellowstone‘s final seasons, it seems that his fate remained largely the same.

In Sheridan’s original plan, Yellowstone likely would have had six seasons, with John dying either at the end of Season 5 or part-way through Season 6. However, it seems that the cause of John’s death was up for debate. Kevin Costner had a “kill clause” in his Yellowstone contract, allowing him to veto any manner of death that he deemed would be “shameful” or “embarrassing.”

5Kayce’s Visions Hinted at John’s Death

Kayce Had Strange Visions That Revealed He Would Be Responsible for the Ranch’s Survival

Kayce Dutton spends much of his Yellowstone arc learning to connect to the culture of the native tribes that originally inhabited the land. At one point, Kayce experienced an ethereal vision that claimed to show him the future of his family and their beloved ranch. He came out of the vision, certain that he had seen the end of his family, though he would have a chance to save them before the end.

The events of Kayce’s death come true in the final season of Yellowstone, with he and his sister eventually coming up with a plan that would save them–at the cost of their ranch. Kayce’s vision hinted more at the fate of the Dutton family as a whole, but it also should have alerted fans for another reason. The idea that Kayce would be responsible for the future of the Duttons implies that John wouldn’t be around to take care of matters himself.

4The Dutton’s Financial Troubles Forebode John’s Demise

John’s Death Is a Natural Way to Put the Other Duttons in a Corner

The Duttons may be wealthy, but their reserves start to run low by the final few seasons of the series. While John always seemed able to save his family from financial ruin, it was clear that even he wouldn’t be able to keep things afloat for much longer. His death in Yellowstone’s final season made things worse, as Beth and Kayce faced a lofty inheritance tax that proved impossible to pay off.

The Duttons’ financial troubles steadily built throughout Yellowstone‘s final seasons, getting worse and worse for the formerly wealthy family. John’s death was the next logical step in this storyline, as it would leave his children in a tough position. John’s death launched the final arc of the series in a way that feels as though it was planned from the beginning.

3Jamie and Sarah’s Alliance Was Never Going to End Well

This Villainous Pair Was Always Going to Kill Someone

Sarah Atwood, an executive from Market Equities, comes to Montana with one purpose: to destroy the Duttons. Known for her ruthless methods, Atwood is finally let loose by her bosses after the Duttons shut down the company’s planned airport. Much to fans’ disgust, her first move is to begin a romantic relationship with Jamie Dutton, who has become estranged from his family.

2John’s Political Carer Created New Enemies

John Put Himself In Harm’s Way When He Became Governor

Season 4 of Yellowstone follows John Dutton as he steps into the political world, running for and eventually winning the office of governor. As the new leader of Montana, John immediately begins rescinding policies that would have developed the state, labeling himself the “opposite of change.” In so doing, John earned plenty of new enemies for himself.

1Kevin Costner’s Exit Made John Dutton’s Death Inevitable

The Yellowstone Lead Didn’t Return for the Show’s Final Episodes

When audiences tuned in to Yellowstone Season 5B’s premiere, they knew that John’s death was imminent. Years earlier, Kevin Costner made a public exit from the hit neo-Western series, failing to complete the fifth season. This resulted in a long delay as Taylor Sheridan and his team reworked the season, writing John Dutton out and focusing more closely on his children and extended family.

Although John’s fate wasn’t fully revealed until the midseason premiere, fans had a good idea about how his story would end long before the episode aired. Costner’s messy exit made another appearance from his character highly unlikely, making it the easiest course of action for Sheridan and crew to simply kill him off. This may not have been the ideal way to deal with the end of the protagonists’s story, but it was necessary after Costner’s very public exit from the series.