An Iconic Country Singer Almost Replaced Lainey Wilson in Yellowstone Season 5 But Taylor Sheridan Hasn’t Given Up on Him Yet
- Cody Johnson was approached to appear on Yellowstone but had to drop out.
- Lainey Wilson replaced Cody Johnson on Yellowstone and appeared in Season 5.
- Kevin Costner says his character's fate did not make him want to go and watch the episode.
Created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, Yellowstone is a neo-Western drama starring Kevin Costner, Kelly Reilly, Luke Grimes, and more. The series premiered in 2018 and is going to conclude on December 22, 2024, after five seasons. The drama follows the Dutton family’s challenges to keep their Yellowstone Ranch in the family while dealing with internal family issues.
The series initially received mixed responses from the audience, but throughout five seasons, it has gone on to be one of the most beloved shows on Paramount Network. With critics and audiences complimenting the writing, direction, and performances of the actors, the fans were sad when it was announced that the show was going to end after five seasons. However, it has been known that country artist Cody Johnson could have been in Yellowstone.
Country artist Cody Johnson had to drop out of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone
According to a report by Taste of Country, Cody Johnson, a famous country singer, was approached to be a part of Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone, starring Kevin Costner and more. His music has been featured on the show, and so the co-creator thought it’d be interesting to have him on the show.
The publication shared that part where country singer Lainey Wilson, who appeared in Season Five of the show, was the one Sheridan wanted Johnson to appear.
However, Cody Johnson had to pass on the opportunity due to his touring schedule and an album that he was working on. He shared about the opportunity on the Rob & Holly radio show by stating,
I know Taylor Sheridan, and he asked me about being there, but I’ll be honest: he gave me very little notice. Like a couple of months. I’m booked halfway through next year already. For what I would’ve had to cancel, I would’ve lost a pretty significant amount of money. So, I said, ‘Nah, I can’t do that.’.
However, this does not mean Johnson is not interested, as he mentioned that the two of them spoke about it, and he shared that he’s working on a new project, and after that, he’s got a cowboy project that he’ll be putting out. Sheridan told Johnson that he’d love to be involved in it and he wants some of that music to use.
Johnson noted that he told Sheridan to let him know a year ahead so that he could plan accordingly. The country singer further shared that he won the best actor award in high school, and he believes that he could get into a role and really take it on and do it right.
After Cody Johnson dropped out, Lainey Wilson took over and was featured as a musician named Abby.
Kevin Costner reacts to his character’s fate in Yellowstone
Kevin Costner’s character John Dutton was the lead on the show for four seasons, and so his leaving made fans upset, but they understood his reasons for quitting and moved on. He has clarified that he did not quit, but he had signed the contracts for three seasons and still managed to adjust to two more seasons, but eventually things changed, and he simply wanted to focus on his movie. But now the show is about to conclude with the finale episode dropping on December 22, 2024.
The fate of John Dutton was showcased in the earlier episodes, where he initially appeared to die by s*icide, and later it was discovered he was the target of a murder-for-hire scheme. Despite fans being disappointed with his end on the show, they are waiting for the finale episode to answer some of the unanswered questions. But now, Kevin Costner has shared his view on his character’s fate and the show moving on without him.
In his appearance on The Michael Smerconish Program, he shared that he did not know that the episode aired when it aired with his character’s death. He added that he has been seeing ads with his face all over the place, and he could only think that he is not a part of the season. Costner noted,
Sometimes I’m like just a passenger in my life, you know, a lot is going on. And somebody said, ‘You know, it played last night? And I said, ‘Hmm. Ok.’ So no, I found out about it this morning.
The actor also noted that he did not know what the makers were going to do with John Dutton, and when asked if he was okay with the ending his beloved character had, he simply remained noncommittal. He said he heard it was a s*icide, and it did not make him want to rush to go see it.
Yellowstone is available to stream on Paramount+.
