Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 9. 

While all the heartbeats of the Yellowstone fans were tumbling to notice what the series would do with the character of Kevin Costner, the show had a sort of peculiar way to handle it. 

It was clear that Costner is not returning to the series following his box office hit Horizon. However, his character of John Dutton being the iconic patriarch of the series, eyes were still wide open to figure out the character’s journey ahead. 

As soon as the first episode of the second half of Season 5 aired, everything was revealed, breaking the hearts of thousands. 

In the latest episode of Yellowstone, the audience learned that the Dutton family patriarch, John, was killed following a fatal gunshot wound. 

While the incident takes place in the bathroom of the Montana governor’s mansion, mystery still surrounds the Dutton family, as the death of John Dutton is stated to be a suicide. 

Meanwhile, though the series confirmed that Dutton’s character has died, showing the bloodied body of an old man, Kevin Costner’s face was nowhere to be seen. 

The episode also shows that John’s children Beth and Layce, played by Kelly Reilly and Luke Grimes, respectively, race over as their father gets late to the first day of his impeachment tribunal.

While Beth blames John’s death on her brother, an opportunistic son, Jamie, played by Wes Bentley, Kayce still does not believe that Jamie would have anything to do with the death. 

In the latest episode, we also learn that Sarah Atwood, who happens to be the market Equities consultant and the one who had been out to topple John’s governorship, had hired a contract killer to stage the death as a suicide. This is shown through a flashback.