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

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

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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.

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.

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.

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

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