“I’m starting my second rewatch and there is so much depth”: Yellowstone Fans Are Now Discovering Taylor Sheridan’s Real Genius in Killing the Show’s Most Likeable Character

Yellowstone has been, for better or for worse, the most engaging show on television for the past few years, and Taylor Sheridanʼs intellectual property has given the audience a new format of entertainment far removed from the usual crime procedural and family sitcoms of the yesteryears.

Both contemporary and operatic in scale, Sheridanʼs series has only grown more beloved over the years with the Dutton clan parallelly spawning into an intergenerational story involving such parties such as Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, and potentially Matthew McConaughey in the near future.

As Kevin Costnerʼs original arc slowly recedes into the background and the behind-the-scenes drama keeps unfolding, the actorʼs relationship with the director gets increasingly unstable, worrying the fans about the closure of the series. As such, emotionally invested fans of the series have been bingeing Yellowstone to awaken past nostalgia and revisit their beloved characters one last time.

Yellowstone Fan Digs Up the Past, Rediscovers a Treasure

Taylor Sheridanʼs prowess in writing stories of dynasties emerging and falling overnight is powerful enough to convince fans of their extended interest in the series and the welfare of the characters in the long run. Despite the cruelty, political machinations, and bloodshed that permeate the storyline of Yellowstone, the audience harbors a fascination that is difficult to subvert or keep under control.

Moreover, as Sheridanʼs open animosity against his leading star, Kevin Costner, only increases by the day, fans too grow more interested in the outcome of Yellowstone (as well as the Dutton clan, by association). With old fans revisiting the series from Season 1 in their prolonged wait before the arrival of Season 5, new truths come to light about characters who were long dead, and as such, considered irrelevant in the big picture.

One user, namely Smilefire0914 in the Yellowstone subreddits, has recently pointed out a similar character death that holds far more meaning after rewatching the series than what fans had initially considered. According to the user:

“There is so much depth to Lee despite him only being in one episode. After completing the series you really get a better feel for why the show feels like it’s missing something and everything seems to go to shit.

I used to think Leeʼs death was so meaningless/unimportant but upon this rewatch it makes a lot more sense / has so much more meaning. Johnʼs entire plan was turned upside down when the next patriarch of the family is killed and we get to see the aftermath play out over the course of the show and how Leeʼs death kinda marks the end of the golden era and its downhill from episode 1 because let’s be real it just gets worse every season.”

With Taylor Sheridan hiding major backstories and volumes of intensity in each of his characters, the death of even the most irrelevant and short-lived arcs holds far more impact than usual in the series. With Lee, played by Dave Annable, that impact grows manifold as the rationality behind the theory of Smilefire0914 makes complete sense, even more so after reflecting on the series in hindsight after knowing the events that unfold till Season 4.

Yellowstone Drama Refuses to Stop Escalating By the Day

With Kevin Costner sacrificing more than he intended to for Yellowstone and Taylor Sheridan dancing to the tune of the network executives every year, one party had to step up and call it for what it is. The mess that was left behind by the series creator in his ambition of laying out an empire of stories at Paramount has finally caught up to him as Costner backs out of his Yellowstone contract to film his two-part passion project, Horizon: An American Saga.

In a recent Deadline interview, Costner revealed the reason behind his long hiatus from the series claiming:

“I made a contract for seasons five, six and seven. In February, after a two- or three-month negotiation, they made another contract. They wanted to redo that one, and instead of seasons six and seven, it was 5A and 5B, and maybe we’ll do six. They weren’t able to make those. Horizon was set in the middle, but Yellowstone was first position. I fit [Horizon] into the gaps. They just kept moving their gaps.”

He further added:

“If you know me well enough, I made Yellowstone the first priority, and to insinuate anything else would be wrong. I did not initiate any of those things. They did. They were doing a tap dance and this poor guy [Taylor Sheridan] was also having to write so much. And I don’t know why they didn’t stick up for me.”

With the truth now out in the light, the audience can only hope that Taylor Sheridan does right by Kevin Costner by investing completely in fleshing out the finale of Yellowstone in a manner deserving of such an operatic television Western.

Yellowstone is available for streaming on Paramount+