The Yellowstone flagship series will soon be ending (after Season 5’s back half, to be released at an unspecified date), but the Taylor Sheridan empire shows no signs of slowing down. At present, people are watching the heck out of 1883 on Paramount Network even though it’s been streaming for awhile. In addition to all of the existing Sheridan shows already out there, the former Sons Of Anarchy deputy is also gearing up for the release of Special Ops: Lioness, which should put Zoe Saldana back in butt-kicking mode, so Sheridan sat down for an expansive profile with The Hollywood Reporter.
In addition to revealing which legendary actor nearly portrayed John Dutton in Yellowstone, Sheridan also addressed Kevin Costner’s early departure from the series, and Sheridan honestly sounds fine with it, but he’s not exactly thrilled. He’s “disappointed” because this “truncates the closure of his character,” even if “[I]t doesn’t alter it.” Sheridan does declare (when prompted) that he won’t craft John Dutton’s final path to suit any agenda but the storytelling:
Sheridan hints that John Dutton was never going to be around for the very end of the show, and that the conclusion of Yellowstone is unchanged from his original movie script. So Dutton will likely be — in the parlance of the series — “taken to the train station.” Or perhaps, I suggest, meet his fate in “a f*ck-you car crash” (a phrase made famous after Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes killed off Patrick Dempsey’s character amid behind-the-scenes tension).
“I was killed in a fuck-you car crash!” Sheridan points out … I don’t do f*ck-you car crashes,” Sheridan says. “Whether [Dutton’s fate] inflates [Costner’s] ego or insults is collateral damage that I don’t factor in with regard to storytelling.”
Now he’s got me curious, but it will likely be awhile before we find out how John Dutton leaves the show. As for Costner, he’s stayed pretty mum on the rumors of drama, and Sheridan doesn’t address the gossipy-type stuff either, but who could blame him?
As for the “f*ck you car crash” that Sheridan mentions, this obviously happened in Sons of Anarchy, but it’s all good. RIP to Deputy Hale, who got trounced by a van during a funeral shootout. At the time, Sheridan told the LA Times, “As far as deaths on that show go, it was about as merciful as I can remember.” He added, “It was fitting to Hale that he went out in battle without any regard or awareness.” And Taylor Sheridan only went up from there.
(Via Hollywood Reporter)
