Yellowstone’s final season may not include John Dutton, but fans of the Taylor Sheridan series still can’t stop thinking about the Dutton patriarch.
Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 is almost here and when it comes there’ll be one major character missing. When Kevin Costner announced he wouldn’t be returning to the show, it meant that the most important Dutton would be gone, too.
This leaves Beth, Jamie, and Kayce to lead the charge in Taylor Sheridan‘s Western series. But even with John absent, Yellowstone viewers are still questioning how they’re possibly expected to like the old-fashioned cattle tycoon.
But ahead of Part 2, fans online have declared that John Dutton isn’t supposed to be likable – you’re just supposed to understand him.
On the Yellowstone subreddit, one user asked: “I’m wondering am I even supposed to like John Dutton? …Don’t get me wrong, I find the show enjoyable, binge-able even. But it’s the first show I’ve bothered to watch that nearly every character does the most deplorable things and I can root for no one.”
Others chimed in with various takes on the head of the Dutton family. As far as they’re concerned, John isn’t intended to be someone you like. Instead, viewers are simply meant to empathize with his point of view.
It might be hard to agree with a man who takes his enemies to the Train Station and goes above the law to protect his land (not to mention all his emotional manipulation of his children), but Sheridan’s show prioritizes legacy above all else.
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As another user pointed out: “Are you supposed to like Walter White or Tony Soprano? That is who John Dutton basically is.”
“The point isn’t to like or not like John Dutton,” another noted. “The point is to examine how various “generations” of land occupiers react to threats to their way of life.”
“I think one of the takeaways from the series is that to hold onto an area of land as immense as the Yellowstone, you will always face ruthless pressures and competition. And you will not survive unless you ruthlessly fight them back. In other words, John is evil, but he arguably has to be,” one comment said.
Summing up the argument, one wrote: “You’re meant to sympathize with him, not like him.”
With John out of the picture in the upcoming Yellowstone episodes, fans may never get closure on understanding his point of view. And if he’s been disposed of off-screen, then John never will, either.
Yellowstone returns on November 10 on the Paramount Network. For more, check out our guides to 6666, 1923 Season 2, and The Madison. Don’t miss all the other new TV shows streaming this month, too.
