Apparently not every Yellowstone viewer follows the years of back and forth between former series star Kevin Costner and creator Taylor Sheridan. Although both Costner and the Yellowstone team made it clear in interviews that he would not reprise his role as John Dutton in the highly anticipated final episodes of the hit series, the character’s death during last Sunday’s premiere still surprised many viewers.

“I was reading Twitter and it’s strange how many people seemed to be angry that John Dutton was killed, despite knowing that Kevin himself said he wouldn’t be coming back to the show,” said Christina Voros, who met the two most recent episodes directed. said in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

She continued, “I think even with this information, people don’t want it to be true. And in a weird way, it’s life imitating art. There were a lot of people who were outraged that John was killed – and you’re meant to be outraged that he was killed. The characters are furious that he has been killed. So in a weird way you’re not supposed to like it.”

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At the start of season 5, John was elected governor of Montana, but even that high political office couldn’t save him from his devious family. Although his death was initially ruled a suicide, the latest episode revealed that the death was actually orchestrated by his own devious son, Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley), while daughter Beth (Kelly Reilly) promised revenge in return.

In any case, Costner himself does not watch the new episodes.

“I haven’t seen it,” the actor said in a SiriusXM interview the day after the season premiere. “I heard it’s suicide, so that doesn’t make me want to rush to see it… Sometimes I’m like a passenger in my life, you know, there’s a lot going on. And someone said: You know, it played last night? And I said: ‘Hmm, okay.'”

Costner is currently busy wrapping up his planned four-part western film series Horizon: an American saga. The first part arrived in theaters earlier this year and is now streaming on Max, with subsequent episodes still to come. Costner’s dedication to Horizon (which he directed, produced, co-wrote and starred in) prevented him from being a part of it Yellowstone‘s final act, as he confirmed earlier this year.

But some people on the show say that was pretty much the plan all along. Reilly told Entertainment weekly last month that Costner’s “absence was part of the ending. That’s not something we had to change, that was already written into the tapestry of the story. It was always going to happen, it just happened a little differently.”