Yellowstone’s Dave Annable Campaigned to Keep His Character Alive

The main story of the Dutton family in Yellowstone didn’t really begin until the tragic death of John Dutton’s heir apparent. Lee Dutton, who was clearly in line to take over for his father running the sprawling family ranch, was killed in a conflict and that event was essentially the catalyst for the rest of the series. John lost the son he’d been training for years and was forced to create a new succession strategy with his remaining children. Lee’s death was monumental for Yellowstone, but the actor behind the character wishes he could’ve found a way to play him a little longer.

Dave Annable, who played Lee Dutton in three episodes of Yellowstone, recently spoke with ComicBook.com about the first season of Paramount+ series Special Ops: Lioness, which is now available on DVD and Blu-ray. He stars in all eight episodes of the show, which is a far cry from his work on Yellowstone, where he was killed off right away. 

Lioness is also comes from Yellowstone creator and producer Taylor Sheridan, and Annable joked about the notion that his new character was Sheridan paying him back for Lee Dutton’s death.

“All I know is I’m here, you know? That’s all I know. Obviously, it’s such a funny thing because I knew my character was gonna die,” Annable told us. “I read the script right before going to work but what you don’t anticipate or plan on was how much fun I had at cowboy camp. I’m from New York, and all of a sudden I’m on a horse in Montana. I’m playing cowboys like, ‘Yo, this is amazing.’ And we’re shooting my death scene. I remember I was like, ‘Actually I think I’m alright. This is just makeup, guys.’ And I tried to start a whole ‘Save Dave’ campaign on set. It lasted a little bit and kind of ran out of gas. But I mean I’m just so thankful for that experience and, although it was short, it was memorable and it was one of those things I’ll take away as one of the coolest things I’ve gotten to do.”

Despite only being on screen for a couple of episodes, Lee Dutton’s impact on Yellowstone continues to be profound, and Annable is a big reason why. 

Yellowstone is available to stream on Peacock, with older episodes continuing to air on CBS. All eight episodes of Special Ops: Lioness are streaming on Paramount+.