John Dutton News: Why ‘Yellowstone’ Was More Compelling When We Thought Kevin Costner’s Character Was Dying .
John Dutton News :In the opening scene of the smash hit Paramount series Yellowstone, Kevin Costner’s rancher character John Dutton gets into a near-fatal car accident that leaves fans questioning if he will survive. This premise sets up an intriguing storyline for the show’s debut season, as we watch a man who believes his remaining time is short set out to secure his family legacy no matter the cost.
Many viewers and critics argue that the show lost some dramatic momentum when it was revealed John was not actually terminal. His mysterious health woes turned out to be “just” a stubborn ulcer. Without a ticking clock, John transformed from a complex and morally questionable protagonist ready to go out guns blazing to more of a straightforward hero character.
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John Dutton News: What Could Have Been with John Dutton’s Cancer Diagnosis
When Yellowstone first premiered in 2018, audiences were drawn in by the magnetism of Oscar winner Kevin Costner leading the charge as troubled rancher John Dutton. In the opening moments, John narrowly survives a potentially deadly car crash. Afterwards, he vomits blood and passes out.
From there, John acts like he’s on borrowed time. He speaks of sin, God, and his deep concerns over the state of his eternal soul. Viewers reasonably jump to the conclusion John believes he is dying, most likely from cancer. This lends an intriguing tension and depth to both the character and Costner’s already compelling performance.
John Dutton News Here is this iconic silver screen cowboy antihero, facing the stark reality of his own mortality. He must now reckon with the consequences of a lifetime’s worth of questionable deeds before the fast-approaching end.
We see him scrambling to mend the broken ties in his family, bring his scattered children home to the ranch, and groom them to someday lead the Yellowstone Dutton empire. He must also safeguard the sprawling family land from ruthless developers looking to wrest it from his cold, dead hands.
With time quickly slipping away, John frequently tosses morality and restrain to the wind. He has always proven willing to get his hands dirty fighting for his family’s legacy and livelihood. But now, believing the sand is running out of the hourglass, he turns up the dial on chaos and carnage to new heights.
John freely admits he has seen far too much darkness in life to believe God really exists. Yet flashes of his religious upbringing and the question of his eternal fate haunt him as mortality fast approaches. Who is the true John Dutton? Is there any hope left he will face the light before the end? Or has a lifetime battling greedy land developers and cutthroat business foes warped him beyond redemption?
These stirring questions helped drive much of the inaugural season’s gripping dramatic conflict. But then the storyline took an unfortunate left turn…
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Cancer Fake-Out Diminishes the Drama
Towards the latter half of Season One, the pieces fall into place for audiences and John himself to confirm he does indeed likely have terminal colon cancer. This lends even greater weight and suspense moving the show into the back half of the season.
But then a strange thing happens. The cancer turns out to be not advanced cancer at all, but merely a nasty, prolonged stomach ulcer. Just like that, the volcano of imminent explosive finality driving the show’s engine abruptly dies down.
Certainly, John Dutton remaining among the living opens up possibilities for more seasons of Yellowstone with its central star intact. But from a dramatic perspective, unfortunately much is lost.
Gone is the lethal unpredictability of a dying man with nothing left to lose. In its place, John transforms over the next few seasons into more of a conventional stand-up hero character.
With the false terminal cancer scare, John sheds much of the heavy darkness that initially made him such a complex and compelling protagonist. The later shift into a more straightforward hero role diminishes Costner and John’s depth.
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Why John’s Cancer Should Have Stuck
It’s understandable why the show’s writers may have backed off on killing John Dutton so early on. Surely they recognized Yellowstone likely would flounder without its magnetic lead character and Costner’s star power driving it.
But in fact, embracing the terminal cancer diagnosis actually could have lent the series more seasons of rich, dramatic storytelling before Costner’s inevitable exit. They could have shown John continuing to descend further down the abyss of moral relativity, increasing friction with his ranch heirs. Also the terminal dilemma could have informed many of John’s increasingly ruthless business and political gambits to keep his empire intact.
Eventually, after multiple seasons of the cancer looming, the writers could craft a final powerful stretch run where the disease ultimately catches up with John. This would allow ample time to establish Yellowstone benchmarks and transitions preparing for an endgame without Costner down the road.
We see hints of rich potential storylines with John battling late-stage cancer even in the show’s existing trajectory. Towards the end of Season Two, John makes an unlikely alliance with his sworn enemies, ambitious developers Dan Jenkins and Thomas Rainwater. They unite to wage all out war against the encroaching Beck brothers and their plans for an airport to enable mass casinos and development.
The gravity of John’s diagnosis could have played beautifully into his desperation, willingness to get in bed with nemeses, and no-holds-barred attacks here. The same could be said for John’s bloody rivalry with rogue rancher Teal Beck, culminating in John stringing him up dead as a gruesome warning.
In a later shocking twist, John successfully runs for Governor of Montana by Season Four partially as a brazen power move to protect Yellowstone land on a political front. Here too we see John repeatedly throw his weight around in ethically questionable fashion to ram through favorable policies and legislation benefiting his family’s interests.
This seeming political corruption would land even harder and higher stakes against the backdrop of John waging a terminal fight for his life while also battling for his empire’s future as a enormously controversial public figure.
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Missed Dramatic Potential in Final Seasons
As Yellowstone progresses into its fifth and final season this fall, the show and John Dutton continue to reign as cable television royalty. Yet Scott Glenn’s Lloyd perhaps speaks for many fans when he eulogizes in the Season Four finale, “I liked you better when I thought you were dying.”
Rumors now swirl over why Kevin Costner is abruptly exiting Yellowstone before the season ends, along with speculation on plot details. But regardless of behind-the-scenes shake ups, embracing John’s terminal cancer from the start could have paved the way for riveting final arcs.
Imagine John continuing to descend morally as he wages losing battles on multiple fronts to shield his family’s birthright. The fatal disease could have informed key character transitions preparing for an eventual Costner exit. We might also earn a more fleshed out reckoning between John and fate. This may better honor the soulful reflections on morality initially so crucial to his character.
Alas, Costner is apparently bowing out sooner than later, with Yellowstone now set to continue in a new iteration without him. But embracing and exploring John Dutton’s terminal condition early on could have lent the show richer dramatic layers in its final seasons. It also may have paved the way for a more powerfully crafted conclusion sending off a beloved character and Costner’s exceptional work portraying him.
Conclusion
The revelation John Dutton was never actually dying remains an unfortunate turning point for Yellowstone. Certainly the news enabled more seasons with the show’s central star and draw leading the way a bit longer.
But from a story perspective, the terminal cancer fake-out diminished the show’s dramatic stakes and complexity. John transformed from a layered, morally questionable antihero making harsh calculations in the face of impending demise into more of a conventional hero figure.
We can only speculate where those early terminal cancer seeds may have blossomed across seasons had the show stuck to its guns. Still, embracing John’s tragic diagnosis likely would have lent Yellowstone a weightier, compelling descent arc for its iconic lead character. The condition could have better paved the way for Kevin Costner’s eventual exit from the wildly popular modern Western saga he brought so magnetically to life.
