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Yellowstone director knows you're outraged about that season 5B premiere, but that was the point

Christina Voros, who directed Yellowstone season 5, episode 9, knows that the internet is upset at what happened in episode 9. She also knows that, well, it was supposed to upset you

News by Grant DeArmitt, Staff Writer

Published on Mon Nov 18 2024

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Major spoilers for Yellowstone, season 5, episodes 9 and 10 follow.

One week after the premiere of Yellowstone season 5B, tentatively considered the last of the show, people are still very much upset over the episode's first couple of minutes. That's because John Dutton, former main character, was killed off in an offscreen shooting, and the fanbase has feelings about it. They are, to put it bluntly, not OK with what has happened. And according to one Yellowstone creative, that was exactly the point.

The quote comes from Christina Voros, who has been all over the Yellowstone universe, directing (as of this writing) 4 episodes of 1883, 5 of Lawman: Bass Reeves, and 10 episodes of the core series, one of which was the infamous premiere of season 5B. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Voros reacted to the online chatter about the controversial episode, saying that what surprised her most was fans' disbelief at being made uncomfortable.

"I was reading Twitter," Voros told THR, "and it’s strange the number of people who seemed upset that John Dutton was killed off, despite knowing that Kevin [Costner] himself said he wasn’t coming back to the show [...] There were a lot of people who were outraged that John was killed — and you’re supposed to be outraged he was killed. The characters are outraged that he’s killed. So in a strange way, it is the point. You are not supposed to be OK with it."

We have to agree with Voros here - on some level, fans had to expect that something bad was going to happen. Even if you weren't one of the people that watched it during its premiere (like, oh, John Dutton himself), the fact that Kevin Costner was known to have departed the project combined with the show's twist, violent past had to spell out tragedy to anyone seriously considering the show's future. Then again, Twitter is gonna Twitter (no matter what they're calling it these days), so perhaps there's a little bit of onus` on Ms. Voros for not expecting the thoroughly expectable.

Yellowstone season 5 is currently airing on Paramount Network. Seasons 1-4 are available to stream on Peacock.

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Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. As Popverse's Staff Writer, he criss-crosses the pop culture landscape bringing you the news and opinions about the big things (and the next big things). In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.