Yellowstone Star Says Season 5 Plans Were in Place Before the Series Premiere Was Filmed

The fifth season of Yellowstone has featured more flashbacks to John Dutton’s past than any of the previous seasons. That means fans have seen a lot more of Josh Lucas, who plays a younger version of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton, running the Yellowstone Ranch in the 1990s. Lucas has appeared in flashbacks throughout the series, but Season 5 has featured his storyline much more prominently. According to Lucas, the plans for this seasons flashbacks were in place years ago, before the Yellowstone pilot was even filmed.

“I was a fan of Taylor Sheridan and his writing, and I thought his work as a writer-director was amazing. Then I got the script. I was frankly really upset I didn’t get cast as a kid of Kevin [Costner],” Lucas told Garden & Gun. “Taylor said, ‘No, man, I’ve got this idea for you to do the flashback sequences.’ He said, ‘It won’t be that much for the first couple seasons, but the fifth season will have a lot of flashbacks to really flesh out the story and history of John Dutton.’ They hadn’t even shot the pilot at that point. I remember being like, ‘This guy is crazy-he’s talking about a fifth season of a TV series.’ And here we are.”

Sheridan clearly knew he was onto something with Yellowstone, speaking with actors about their arcs in the fifth season before the first season was even on TV. Part of the appeal to both fans and actors on the show is the depth of the characters, especially John Dutton, who Lucas has enjoyed digging into over the last few years.

“John Dutton is an extraordinary character. When I started this season, I was able to go back and watch all forty episodes in about a week and a half,” Lucas said. “Within a few episodes, I was so hooked I had to force myself to go to bed at 4:00 a.m. I was asking myself, ‘Is this research, or are you just bingeing TV?’ I [wanted] to understand who John Dutton is, and to honor this fascinating, super complicated American character. And the elements of what I think is so profound and deep about what this show is trying to discuss, and why the zeitgeist of it is hitting people so hard, and why people care about it so much. I felt even more of an intense responsibility to get what Kevin and Taylor were doing correct, so that it would be somewhat seamless between the character, younger and older.”

Have you been enjoying the extended flashbacks in Yellowstone Season 5? Let us know in the comments!