Every Dutton Has a Spin-Off… Except the One Who Actually Earned It

With the flagship Yellowstone series finished, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the Taylor Sheridan narrative is set to continue beyond the original five seasons. After all, the neo-Western series likely would have lasted another season or two had Kevin Costner not departed from the show ahead of Season 5 Part 2. Either way, as Kayce (Luke Grimes) and Beth (Kelly Reilly) continue their respective journeys in opposite directions, I’m convinced there’s one Dutton who still deserves a spin-off of his own. No, it’s not Jamie (Wes Bentley), nor is it their other fallen brother Lee (Dave Annable), but rather the younger version of their father, John Dutton, played to perfection by Josh Lucas.

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.

To say that the adventures of a younger John Dutton have a wealth of untapped potential would probably be an understatement. There is a lot about John Dutton that we still don’t know or fully understand, and a prequel series about his life — even if it were a miniseries event that took us through it in stages — would offer some additional insight into the man that Costner played in those final years. Why did John really take Jamie in as a child? Why was he so hard on Kayce in particular? How did he deal with the loss of his wife, and how did that change him long-term? We can try to answer all of these questions based on what we see in Yellowstone, but they may be better explored in a series that intends to lean a bit further into the ranching life of John in his younger days.

‘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.

I’m also disappointed that Season 5B only got six episodes compared to Season 5A’s eight. An entire episode could have been devoted to rounding out the flashbacks first established in the first half of the season, and if executed correctly, it may have been the best way to send John Dutton off. Instead, we were left with the fallout. While it was good to see Kayce, Beth, and Rip (Cole Hauser) all explore their own methods of grief during this time, especially since John’s departure allowed them to really carry the series, it still felt odd that the last few episodes didn’t feature the Dutton patriarch in any capacity. This is where Lucas’ younger version may have softened the blow. Of course, there is still a possibility that Lucas could continue in the Yellowstone Universe.

This cowboy is going the way of the crime procedural

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.

Additionally, a spin-off could explore some of the adolescent dynamics between Beth and Rip, Kayce and his father, and expand on the tragedy that is Lee and Jamie, who each craved approval from their father — not to mention possibly getting a clearer picture of what John and Evelyn’s marriage was like, helping viewers to understand why the Dutton family turned out how they did. There’s certainly a lot that could be further developed and explored in a prequel like this, and while it’s not necessary, per se, a spin-off could shed some new, welcome light on John Dutton.