While it remains to be seen how Taylor Sheridan will write Costner off the show (besides Sheridan saying, "I don't do fuck-you car crashes," referring to the death of Patrick Dempsey's Grey's Anatomy character), the decision about why Costner isn't in Yellowstone anymore was reportedly his own.

There's always the theory John Dutton doesn't die at all, but leaves the Dutton ranch for an unexpected trip. With the character out of town, John Dutton could very much still be alive and well and has merely ridden off into the sunset!

It's been nearly two years since the finale of Part 1 of Season 5 of "Yellowstone" - the massive Taylor Sheridan-created show's most recent episode - debuted on Paramount Network on New Year's Day 2023.

Following a very public disagreement between the lead of the show, Kevin Costner, and creator, Taylor Sheridan, over how writing and production on the show was being handled, Costner chose to forgo returning to "Yellowstone,

The "Yellowstone" cast weigh in on Kevin Costner's exit. "Things change so much…at a certain point, you’ve just got to show up and do your job, because there's so many people that are making other decisions that are outside of our scope.