"I think originally he was supposed to die much earlier," the actor tells PEOPLE of Kevin Costner's character John Dutton’s tragic fate in Yellowstone was predetermined, according to star Luke Grimes.

Kevin Costner hasn’t been afraid to share his thoughts about how his ‘Yellowstone’ character, John Dutton, met his end in season 5B

Yes, it appears that John Dutton really is dead. At the start of the ninth episode, John Dutton is found dead in the bathroom of the Montana governor’s mansion, with a gunshot wound to the head. As Kevin Costner’s face wasn't shown directly, fans not wanting to believe he could be dead thought this could be a misdirection.

Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 is almost here and in this article, learn if another actor is playing John Dutton after Kevin Costner's exit.

Although both Costner and the Yellowstone team made clear in interviews that he would not be reprising his role as John Dutton in the long-awaited final episodes of the hit series, the character's death in last Sunday's premiere still caught a lot of viewers by surprise.

Paramount Network's Yellowstone started its first episode in nearly two years with a bang last week, with the sudden death of Kevin Costner 's John Dutton.