Kevin Costner Says He Didn't Watch Yellowstone Premiere, Isn't in a 'Rush to Go See It' After Hearing His Character's Fate

Kevin Costner isn’t quite ready for a visit to the Dutton Ranch after his character’s shocking fate was revealed.

On the Yellowstone season 5B premiere, which aired Sunday, Nov. 10, Costner's character John Dutton was found dead from a gunshot wound. Initially, it was thought to be a suicide but it later came to light that John died as part of Sarah Atwood’s (Dawn Olivieri) murder-for-hire scheme, which was designed to look like John took his own life. 

The 69-year-old actor admitted during an appearance on SiriusXM’s The Michael Smerconish Program that he has yet to watch the premiere, sharing, “Well, I'm going to be perfectly honest. I didn't know it was actually airing last night. That's a swear to God moment. I swear to God.” 

“I mean, I've been seeing ads with my face all over the place and I'm thinking, ‘Gee, I'm not in that one.’ I'm not in this season,” he continued. “But I've been seeing, but I didn't realize yesterday was the thing. I really have, my focus has been on what I was having to do, and I've got a few calls to make. So you think - sometimes I'm like just a passenger in my life, you know, there's a lot going on. And somebody said, you know, it played last night? And I said, ‘Hmm, okay.’ So no, I found out about it this morning actually.”

Costner explained that he had no immediate plans to watch the hit series after learning John’s fate.

“I heard it's a suicide, so that doesn't make me want to rush to go see it,” he shared.

Host Michael Smerconish then noted that the character didn’t appear to be “suicide kind of guy,” to which Costner replied, “Well, they're pretty smart people. Maybe it's a red herring. Who knows? They're very good. And they'll figure that out.”

Costner also claimed he didn’t “quit the show” but left due to other contractual obligations after playing John Dutton III for five seasons from 2018 to 2022. 

In June, Costner told PEOPLE he was "disappointed" by the narrative that emerged regarding his departure from the show that he and creator Taylor Sheridan had creative differences. Costner said he kept Yellowstone a priority for over a year awaiting the next season’s scripts and schedule, but he said that the real reason behind his exit was because "the scripts weren't there."

"There was a moment where that show for me stopped for 14 months... That's the fact. I could have done a lot of things in that time, but I wasn't aware that that [hold-up] was going to happen," he said.

In the interview, Costner said that he "loved the show" and would be open to reprising his role. He explained, "I've always felt that…It might be an interesting moment to come back and finish the mythology of this modern-day family. And if that happens, I would step into it if I agreed with how it was being done.”

Series director Christina Voros told The Hollywood Reporter ahead of the season 5B premiere that John Dutton's "presence is integral" as the series comes to a close despite Costner's departure. 

"I think to say any more than that would potentially compromise all the work that went into redacting the scripts," she shared, adding that "he is the patriarch and his presence is an essential component to the story."

Voros later told The Hollywood Reporter that "Taylor’s decision to begin [the season] this way was incredibly brave” after John’s fate was revealed.

"I think it is [a] testament to his faith in the characters and the actors who embody them to go, 'Let’s not make this about the incident. Let’s make this about how these human beings exist in the aftermath,'" she added. "That was more interesting to [Taylor] than the incident itself."

"Death and birth are the two constants in our human experience. They are the most pivotal moments in our lives, and yet they are the most pedestrian elements of being a human being. What’s interesting about birth and death is not the birth and death itself, but the way it affects us as people. To me, I think that was the driving force in telling the story this way. He’s asked, ‘How does everybody else survive and what do they do?’ And that’s where the mystery is. That is where the unraveling is. That is where the story is."

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Yellowstone airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Paramount Network.