There’s no doubt that Yellowstone season 6’s planned Kayce Dutton’s long-lost brother twist would’ve changed the show, but the how is what’s most interesting. The plot line isn’t the only part of Taylor Sheridan’s ultra-popular series that’s been scrapped. In fact, the whole of the neo-Western drama’s season 6 was canceled in favor of wrapping up the show with the highly-anticipated Yellowstone season 5, part 2. Of course, the show’s final outing is also plagued by the departure of one of its actors: Kevin Costner. Without its lead, Yellowstone season 5, part 2 will unequivocally have a more challenging time wrapping up the Dutton family’s story.
It’s hard to imagine a truly satisfying way for Kevin Costner to leave Yellowstone — and patriarch John Dutton — without appearing on-screen again. However, given the behind-the-scenes goings-on, it looks like it will be up to the remaining ensemble cast of returning Yellowstone characters to close the chapter in a fulfilling way. From seeing how Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Jamie’s (Wes Bentley) feud plays out to witnessing what happens to Yellowstone Ranch without its owner-turned-governor John Dutton, there are plenty of intriguing threads left to see through. One of those plot lines, however, won’t revolve around Kayce’s (Luke Grimes) long-lost brother.
Kayce Having A Brother Would’ve Made His & John’s Story Quite Different
Before season 6 was nixed, country musician Cory Asbury was cast as Yellowstone’s newest character: Kayce’s long-lost brother. In an interview, Asbury mentioned that he was planning to move to Montana for the role, indicating that it was more than just a several-episode cameo. The unnamed character would’ve majorly impacted Yellowstone’s Dutton family. For starters, it would have really reframed Kayce and John Dutton’s whole relationship. At the beginning of the series, Kayce and John have been estranged for a considerable amount of time, with John’s son living on the Broken Rock Reservation with Monica Long (Kelsey Asbille), a professor who’s the granddaughter of Indigenous elder Felix Long.
That relationship is what drove a wedge between the Dutton men. Given Yellowstone Ranch’s location, John has been feuding with the leaders of Broken Rock Reservation for years. When the couple announces that they’re having a son, Tate (Brecken Merril), the emotional distance between Kayce and John only deepens. Of course, the father-son duo had a tense, complicated relationship long before Kayce started a family. John grows to regret the way he handled the relationship, though all of that turmoil could’ve been cast in a new light if it was revealed that Kayce had a long-lost brother — a son who was even further removed from John.
Why Kayce Having A Long-Lost Brother Would’ve Been Bad For Yellowstone
While reframing the way John approached his relationship with Kayce by introducing a long-lost Dutton son is interesting, a secret brother reveal in Yellowstone’s final episodes would cheapen the show’s overall narrative and impact. It’s impossible to know who will die in Yellowstone season 5, but the show has already set up an interesting conclusion to its feud between Yellowstone Ranch and Broken Rock Reservation. That is, Monica and Kayce’s son, Tate, is both a potential heir to the ranch and a member of the people who first lived on the land. Introducing another Dutton into the mix at this point would undermine everything Yellowstone has set up.