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.

The show is among the most popular in all of television, though the show’s legions of fans were left quite frustrated by the Dutton death. 

One of the show’s stars, Luke Grimes, who plays John Dutton’s son Kayce, admitted in a new interview with People that it was ‘always the plan’ to have John die.

‘It was always the plan for him to have to go away for the story to really ramp up, and that was the story. You lose a patriarch of the family. Can the kids do it on their own?’ Grimes said.

He admitted, ‘there’s been some negative reactions’ to Dutton’s death, which was first revealed as a suicide – which most fans didn’t agree with – and later revealed as a hit performed by a company specializing in making homicides look like deaths by other means, namely accidents or suicides.

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

One of the show’s stars, Luke Grimes, who plays John Dutton’s son Kayce, admitted in a new interview with People that it was ‘always the plan’ to have John die 

‘I think they feel sort of cheated. And what I would say to that is, I think we were all lucky to have Kevin on the show as long as we did,’ Grimes said.

He also added that the original plan was to kill off John Dutton much earlier in the story.

‘I think originally he was supposed to die much earlier. So, in a way, they got way more of John Dutton than they were going to originally get. I would keep that in mind,’ Grimes added.

‘If it happened in such a shocking, quick way, that’s how life works, right? I mean, when you lose people, it’s sometimes not how you planned and not when you think it’s going to be,’ Grimes continued.

Costner revealed in June that when he was pitched the show by creator Taylor Sheridan, his character was only going to be around for one season.

‘When it was first pitched to me by Taylor [Sheridan] it was one season and [like] a long movie, which [is] speaking my language… but ultimately, I think what happened was the studio didn’t want that,’ Costner said.

‘And because he’s such a prolific writer, he said, “I can do that. I can make a series that goes on,”‘ Costner added.

He ultimately ‘stepped up’ and agreed to, ‘do it for three seasons, and I ended up doing it for five.’

‘I think they feel sort of cheated. And what I would say to that is, I think we were all lucky to have Kevin on the show as long as we did,’ Grimes said

‘I think they feel sort of cheated. And what I would say to that is, I think we were all lucky to have Kevin on the show as long as we did,’ Grimes said

‘I think originally he was supposed to die much earlier. So, in a way, they got way more of John Dutton than they were going to originally get. I would keep that in mind,’ Grimes added

‘And because he’s such a prolific writer, he said, “I can do that. I can make a series that goes on,”‘ Costner added

He also went on to praise Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan, stating, ‘I liked the writing and really, really liked what Taylor was doing.’

‘He understood the world of modern-day ranching and was able to create all this other type of drama inside it, but in an effective way,’ Costner added.

With four episodes left of Yellowstone, it remains to be see what will happen to the Yellowstone ranch that has been in the Dutton family for seven generations.

New episodes air Sunday nights at 8 PM ET on Paramount Network, with the series finale airing Sunday, December 15.