Showrunner Taylor Sheridan has ignited hopes of more flashback scenes in the fourth season of Yellowstone. Returning to Paramount and Peacock next year, the new instalment is hoped to feature some revealing moments between John and Evelyn Dutton before her tragic early death.
Yellowstone fans got to know and love Evelyn Dutton (played by Gretchen Mol), the formidable wife of ranch owner John (Kevin Costner) throughout the first season of Taylor Sheridan’s riveting drama.
Although she is constantly referenced as the rock at the centre of the family, Evelyn hasn’t appeared in any flashback sequences since the seventh episode of season one.
In episode three, No Good Horses, it’s revealed Evelyn was killed in March, 1997 when she was out horse riding.
Accompanied by young son Kayce (Luke Grimes, Rhys Alterman in flashback), Evelyn’s horse gets spooked and falls to the ground, crushing its rider.
The horrific experience traumatised Kayce, and the Duttons have been living in the shadow of Evelyn’s premature passing ever since.
Despite her pivotal role in maintaining the show’s atmosphere and her surviving family’s motivations to defend their coveted cattle ranch, Evelyn still hasn’t made an appearance since her impactful moments in Yellowstone’s first season.
Showrunner Taylor Sheridan is demonstrably not averse to bringing back the flashback format, however, as some tense sequences in season three revealed the truth behind Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Jamie’s (Wes Bentley) fraught rivalry.
Ahead of the show’s return this summer, Sheridan dropped a major reference to Evelyn’s impact on the series when talking to Deadline in August last year.
His comments were unearthed in a recent Reddit thread, sparking a discussion as to why the head writer failed to fulfil his audience’s expectations for season three.
Sheridan explained: “What you’re watching is the slow death of a family. As the family’s true leader, John Dutton’s wife died prematurely.”
The writer, previously known for Hollywood action films Hell or High Water and Wind River, revealed it was Evelyn, not John, who maintained control over the Duttons’ coveted land.
Despite their success, the death of John’s wife left the Dutton family scrambling to grab hold of the reigns and provided the catalyst for their constant infighting.
He continued: “And like a feudal kingdom in the Middle Ages, they’re warring with each other until a greater threat shows up.
“Then they band together to fight that threat and then they go to war with each other again.”
Evelyn’s touching yet fleeting sequences with her family were a highlight of the first season, which begs the question why Gretchen Mol hasn’t reprised her role in subsequent runs.
One Redditor responded to Sheridan’s comments and said: “Which is exactly why she should actually be a bigger character, even in death.”
