Wes Bentley, who plays Jamie Dutton on “Yellowstone,” said in an interview this week that it was certainly a “possibility” that Kevin Costner, who stars in the show as John Dutton, could be killed off in the show’s current season.
Bentley’s remarks come after Deadline reported earlier this month that the show is set to end in its current form with star actor Kevin Costner while the show’s creators are eyeing extending the franchise with actor Matthew McConaughey.
Bentley weighed in with his thoughts on what it would mean for his character if Costner did not come back as the patriarch in the show.
“I thought about this in Season 1,” Bentley told TVLine, “because it’s always a possibility in TV, right? We’re always ready to die. … [And John] really has got this hypnotic pull on Jamie.”
Bentley said that killing off John Dutton early in the show would have made Jamie Dutton “completely lost” and searching for a new identity.
“Maybe part of him would be frantic trying to take care of the ranch,” he said. “I really do think he means what he says. He would feel that burden and maybe panic.”
Now that the show has several seasons under its belt, Bentley says that killing off John Dutton would give Jamie Dutton a “change of perspective.”
Deadline reported that Taylor Sheridan, co-creator and showrunner, along with Paramount Global and Paramount Network, are already in talks with McConaughey, and several of the show’s main characters are expected to be in the new version of the series, the report said.
“We have no news to report. Kevin Costner is a big part of Yellowstone and we hope that’s the case for a long time to come,” a Paramount Network spokesperson said. “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.”
Sheridan is also behind the extremely popular “Yellowstone” prequel series “1883” and “1923.” The success of those two shows has afforded Sheridan the ability to be less dependent on “Yellowstone” for success, the report said.
The new show will reportedly start on Paramount Network and then will be moved to Paramount+.
The decision to move on from Costner comes after he reportedly wanted to do less filming than what producers wanted, the report said. Paramount Network rejected a proposal from Costner and decided to move on.
Deadline added that Sheridan may make two additional prequel series to “Yellowstone” that would detail struggles in the 1940s and 1960s to hang onto the ranch.