It's been nearly two years since the finale of Part 1 of Season 5 of "Yellowstone" - the massive Taylor Sheridan-created show's most recent episode - debuted on Paramount Network on New Year's Day 2023.

With the mid-season premiere of Yellowstone just days away, fans have been speculating for months on how creator Taylor Sheridan would write off patriarch John Dutton, who has appeared in every episode (53 to be exact) since the show's premiere in 2018.

Following a very public disagreement between the lead of the show, Kevin Costner, and creator, Taylor Sheridan, over how writing and production on the show was being handled, Costner chose to forgo returning to "Yellowstone,

The "Yellowstone" cast weigh in on Kevin Costner's exit. "Things change so much…at a certain point, you’ve just got to show up and do your job, because there's so many people that are making other decisions that are outside of our scope.