'Yellowstone' Killed Off One of Its Best Characters Too Early

Image via Paramount Published Nov 5, 2026, 6:58 PM EST Michael John Petty is a Senior Author for Collider who spends his days writing, in fellowship with his local church, and enjoying each new day with his wonderful wife and precious daughters. At Collider, he writes features, reviews, recaps, interviews, and breaking news on select occasion. In addition to writing about stories, Michael has told a few of his own, from supernatural thrillers to historical fiction. His Western short story, The Devil's Left Hand, received the Spur Award for "Best Western Short Fiction" in 2025 from the Western Writers of America, of which he is a member. Michael currently resides in North Idaho with his growing family. Sign in to your Collider account Writer and director Taylor Sheridan has, simply put, taken over our TV screens. The Jeremy Renner-led Mayor of Kingstown is gearing up for its fifth and final season, Lioness is still going strong, and Tulsa King, starring Sylvester Stallone, is currently airing its fourth installment with a spin-off on the way. None of these shows, however, would likely be in existence if it weren't for the massive success of Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone. While the Western series, led by Kevin Costner, came to a close with Season 5, the Dutton dynasty is still being represented on television through CBS's Marshals and Paramount+'s Dutton Ranch. While it can be hard for a multi-season series to remember every plotline from its early years — especially given how long Yellowstone's episodes can run — one forgotten character stands above the rest, awaiting real justice for his absence. With spin-off prequels such as 1883 and 1923 introducing so many other Duttons to add to the growing family tree, it's easy to forget about Dave Annable's Lee entirely. After all, the character isn't in the show all that much, and his siblings, Kayce (Luke Grimes), Beth (Kelly Reilly), and adoptive brother Jamie (Wes Bentley), often fought (usually each other) for Yellowstone's center stage. A humble cowboy like Lee wouldn't really fit into the cutthroat world Sheridan created, hence why he didn't stick around. But what happened to Lee, and why did Annable leave the show so abruptly? Who Is Lee Dutton on 'Yellowstone'? If you forgot that Costner's John Dutton had a third son (well, fourth if you include Cole Hauser's Rip Wheeler, John's surrogate son), then you're not alone. Annable only played the firstborn Dutton in three episodes of Yellowstone, and in that time, his character never exactly made a real impact on anyone involved. First appearing in the extended pilot episode "Daybreak," Lee is the first in line for the Dutton throne. More than that, he's the only one of John's children who genuinely cares about the land and cattle, not just the power it buys. But Lee's tenure on the series wasn't meant to last, and neither was his memory. Near the end of "Daybreak," Lee, himself a Livestock Agent, is murdered by Robert Long (Jeremiah Bitsui) — who just so happens to be Monica Dutton's (Kelsey Asbille) brother — during a cattle dispute on the border of the Dutton Ranch and the Broken Rock Indian Reservation. As a result, Kayce (Luke Grimes) retaliates by killing his brother-in-law in self-defense, which ends up causing more issues than Lee's death did. In many ways, Lee's demise serves as the catalyst for the events of the entire series, as the Duttons go to war with all the encroaching forces on their ancestral land. However, they sort of forget about him in the process. After his death, Annable was understandably written off the series. For years, his only reappearance was via a photo that cameoed in the Season 2 episode ironically titled "Resurrection Day." However, Lee did return via flashbacks to his sibling's childhood in the '90s (back when Costner's John Dutton looked more like Josh Lucas), where he was played by Kip Denton — who, aside from the episode "Blood the Boy," often went uncredited. 'Yellowstone' Eventually Left Lee Dutton Behind While Lee's occasional flashback appearances kept the character alive after his Season 1 demise (his pure moment with a young Kayce at the Dutton family Christmas of 1996 was a nice surprise), they're scarce and never focus on the character himself. In the present storylines, Lee's death is forgotten by the end of the first season, and rather than fight for the Dutton Ranch in honor of his son's memory, John Dutton does so out of some mysterious promise to his father that isn't revealed until later. By some miracle, Lee's the only Dutton child who's been murdered thus far, in spite of previous attempts on other family members' lives. No doubt part of the reason that Lee is forgotten is that the death of a son and a brother is a hard thing to meditate on. No wonder John would rather put all his effort into preserving his land rather than grieve. But what starts as something understandable becomes something less so as time continues on. As Yellowstone continues to flashback to the Duttons' childhood, Lee is forgotten about entirely. Additionally, there are entire Dutton family photos that don't include their firstborn son at all, which we'd assume was a point of contention among the siblings if we didn't know it was clearly unintentional. More than anything, it just seems like Taylor Sheridan forgot about Lee's existence completely. Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor SheridanShow Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn't write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for. 🤠Yellowstone 🛢️Landman 👑Tulsa King ⚖️Mayor of Kingstown FIND YOUR WORLD → 01 Where does your power come from? In Sheridan's world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind. ALand, legacy, and a name that's been feared and respected for generations. BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first. CReputation. I've earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it. DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous. NEXT QUESTION → 02 Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan's universe is always absolute — and always costly. AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me. BThe company — or whoever's signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract. CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don't abandon them for anything. DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I'm the only thing stopping it from blowing. NEXT QUESTION → 03 Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it's crossed. AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching. BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I've moved. CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences. DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing. NEXT QUESTION → 04 Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan's worlds are as much about place as they are about people. AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away. BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them. CA mid-size city where the rules haven't quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve. DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone's life is shaped by what's inside those walls. NEXT QUESTION → 05 How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt. AI do what has to be done to protect what's mine. I'll answer for it eventually — but not today. BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what's at stake, and I move with it. CI have a code — it's not the law's code, but it's mine, and I don't break it. DI've made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don't have the stomach for. NEXT QUESTION → 06 What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they're defending. AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase. BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal. CRelevance. I've been away, I've been written off — and I'm proving that was a mistake. DWhatever fragile order I've managed to build — because without it, everything burns. NEXT QUESTION → 07 How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan's world is never given — it's established, maintained, and constantly tested. ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I'm protecting — and because they know what happens if they don't. BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don't need people to like me — I need them to need me. CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it. DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it. NEXT QUESTION → 08 Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you. AThey'll learn. Or they won't. Either way, the land was here before them and it'll be here after. BI figure out what they want, what they're worth, and whether they're an asset or a problem — fast. CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect. DNew players destabilise everything I've built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me. NEXT QUESTION → 09 What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal. AMy family's peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I've let it take too much. BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn't nailed down. CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can't get back — but I'm not done yet. DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall. NEXT QUESTION → 10 When it's over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan's characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind. AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it. BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table. CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms. DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it. REVEAL MY SHOW → Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you're complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes. 🤠 Yellowstone 🛢️ Landman 👑 Tulsa King ⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world's indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you're willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family's weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what's yours, you don't escalate — you finish it. You're not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone's world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn't make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it. You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You're a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they'll do to get it. You're not naive enough to think this world is fair. You're smart enough to be the one deciding who it's fair to. You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you're not above reminding people that the two aren't mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they'd be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they're more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don't need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land. You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you're the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky's world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You've made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ In many ways, Yellowstone developed Rip into Lee's replacement, especially in recent seasons. Not only did John gift his surrogate firstborn Lee's old cabin on the Dutton land, but John's love for his new son-in-law rivaled that of his love for his own children. Flashbacks to Rip's teenage years in Season 5 reveal that John helped hide the body of a murdered ranch hand whom Rip had killed by accident. In many ways, it's a scene that feels like a rite of passage between father and son, cementing the fact that Rip, not Lee, has become the rightful successor to John's cattle empire. Dave Annable Made a Surprise Appearance as Lee Dutton in 'Yellowstone' Season 4 Image via Paramount After nearly two seasons without hardly a passing mention of the lost Dutton, the final episode of Season 4, "Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops," did what we never thought Yellowstone could do and brought Lee back from the grave. (Well, sort of.) As Kayce embarks on his vision quest ahead of Season 5, he sees a vision of his long-dead brother, one who wasn't particularly happy to see him. Not only did Lee confront Kayce about forgetting him, but his appearance in his brother's vision served more as a warning than a reunion. Annable's return was a welcome surprise for sure and brought the series full circle as Lee and Kayce looked eye-to-eye for the first time since the premiere. Though it's unlikely we'll see Annable return again as Lee, it was nice to see that, after years of wondering why Sheridan and company seemed to have forgotten about him, Yellowstone was willing to elaborate further. After the death of John Dutton's latest grandson in Season 5, the patriarch recalls his own grief when Lee died back in the first season, explaining that he still blames himself to this day. Even After 'Yellowstone,' Dave Annable Remains a Cowboy Image via Paramount+ Despite being unceremoniously killed off on Yellowstone, Dave Annable has continued to play the cowboy on other neo-Westerns following his short tenure as Lee Dutton. In 2021, he landed the recurring role of Dan Miller on the CW's Walker, a modern reimagining of the original Chuck Norris-helmed Walker, Texas Ranger that took more than a few cues from Yellowstone. Appearing in 12 episodes as Miller in the midst of a Hatfield & McCoy-type family squabble, Annable has carved out a real Western legacy for himself. Alternatively, Annable reunited with Taylor Sheridan in 2023 for Lioness. Slowly moving away from the Western genre, Sheridan's latest series is more akin to his work on the action thriller Without Remorse. After being killed off on Sheridan's flagship series, Annable was granted main cast status in the filmmaker's spy thriller. Playing Neal, the surgeon husband of Zoe Saldaña's lead character Joe, he's finally landed a role that's brought him full circle since Yellowstone. Here's hoping we'll see Annable play a cowboy again sometime soon. Release Date 2018 - 2024-00-00 Network Paramount Network Showrunner Taylor Sheridan A ranching family in Montana faces off against others encroaching on their land. Main Genre Drama Seasons 5