John Dutton’s Yellowstone Funeral Hints at the Return of a Shocking First Death

The Yellowstone season 5 finale references the first significant Dutton death in the original series, bringing Taylor Sheridan’s neo-Western full circle. The finale is an important outing for Beth and Kayce, who wrap up their affairs respectively. Kayce sells the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch to Thomas Rainwater and the Broken Rock Tribe, shedding his family’s burden by passing on the stewardship of the largest ranch in the country. Meanwhile, Beth finally ends her sibling rivalry with Jamie, killing her adopted brother and calling the police to report him for assault and involvement in their father’s murder.

John III’s funeral is one of the most significant events, with his family and the Yellowstone cowboys gathering around to memorialize the Dutton patriarch and say goodbye. It is an emotional endeavor for Beth, who cares for her father perhaps more than anyone. As the characters stand in the grass, surrounded by gravestones that mark the Dutton family tree, John’s funeral has significant ties to Yellowstone’s first funeral, following Lee Dutton’s Yellowstone death in the series premiere. The details highlight the importance of Costner’s character in Yellowstone, standing as a reminder of his opening moments in the series.

John Dutton’s Funeral Shows A Glimpse Of Lee Dutton’s Tomb

Lee Dutton Is John Dutton III’s Eldest Son

In the Yellowstone season 5 finale, Kayce and Rip lead the funeral procession, carrying John Dutton’s gleaming mahogany coffin down to the Dutton family graveyard. The episode then cuts to Lee Dutton’s grave, which reads the years he lived, from 1974 to 2017. Showing Lee’s gravestone is a touching tribute to John III’s oldest son, who perished at the beginning of the modern range war for the ranch. The Duttons have experienced many hardships while struggling to maintain control of the land, and Lee’s death marks one of the most significant sacrifices the family made to protect it.

John III’s funeral subtly references Lee’s death in other ways, such as the sorrowful fiddle music and behavior of two key Yellowstone characters at each ceremony. As attendants gather around the coffin at Lee’s funeral, John hesitates to proceed, and Beth similarly stalls at her father’s, neither wanting to accept one of the greatest tragedies of each of their lives. During Lee’s funeral, John III looks to the sky, then closes his eyes, momentarily transcending. Beth does the same at her father’s funeral, staring into the tree brush, watching a hawk fly away as her more immediate surroundings dissolve.

How Lee’s Death Kicked Off The Events Of Yellowstone

Lee’s Death Begins The Yellowstone Saga

The death of John Dutton’s eldest son in the Yellowstone series premiere kicked off the show. A modern range war began after a herd of cattle ended up on the Broken Rock Reservation, prompting John III to send a convoy in to retrieve his beef. Lee was a key figure in his father’s attack, riding through the night on horseback. However, Broken Rock Tribe members awaited the Yellowstone Ranch’s maneuver, and its members and tribal police awaited them with firearms. After a series of events fail to go as planned, Lee is shot off his horse and killed by Robert Long.

Lee Dutton’s death was the first in a series of tragedies for the Duttons in Yellowstone as they fought to defend and maintain the biggest ranch in the country. Lee and John’s deaths are bookends to the Yellowstone story, each a tragedy that came at the cost of protecting the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch during its modern era. As they occupied the land for 141 years, the entire Dutton family faced a series of tragedies, and many Duttons died. However, the youngest sixth-generation Dutton rancher, Kayce, ends his family’s reign of the property, shedding the burden of protecting his family’s estate.