If Any ‘Yellowstone’ Character Needs a Spin-Off, It’s Josh Lucas’ John Dutton

If there’s one character apart from Kayce who deserves their own spin-off, it’s undoubtedly Josh Lucas’ John Dutton. While Costner played an aged John Dutton in the final years leading to his assassination, Lucas played the younger version, still raising his children to try and take over his growing cattle empire. Having appeared in merely nine episodes of the entire 53-episode series, Lucas’ interpretation was to Costner’s what Robert De Niro‘s Vito Corleone was to Marlon Brando‘s in The Godfather trilogy. He is John Dutton in his absolute prime, and we see him at a time when there was still potential for his family, long before Beth and Jamie fell out, before Kayce wandered in his own direction, and before Lee was unceremoniously murdered. In fact, this John existed alongside his wife Evelyn (Gretchen Mol) before her own fateful end.

‘Yellowstone’ Season 5 Dropped the Ball With the John Dutton Flashbacks

Going into Season 5, we were promised that the young John Dutton flashbacks would be a major part of the final season — and indeed they were, at first. Season 5 Part 1 featured Lucas in earnest, further developing and examining John Dutton in both the past and present. The problem was, when Costner exited the show, John Dutton did too, and that meant that Lucas’ final flashback sequence didn’t feel so, well, definite. For years, Lucas had rumored that Sheridan wanted to do entire flashback episodes, perhaps even a whole flashback season, but that never came to be. With Yellowstone finished in its current form, Sheridan missed an opportunity to further explore Lucas’ younger John as the patriarch’s children grieve him in the present. This would have allowed the character to still be present in the final few episodes, even as Costner’s version is written out.

Shows Like ‘1883’ or ‘1923’ Prove That a Direct ‘Yellowstone’ Prequel Would Work

In the same vein as 1883, it’s always possible that Sheridan could develop a limited series that centers on John as he struggles with the loss of his wife, the branding of the ranch, and raising his children to take over in the years leading up to the flagship series. This would be the perfect opportunity for us to flesh out John Dutton in his entirety, apart from Costner’s iteration, and maybe even further connect this version of the character to his ancestors as seen in 1923.