Hollywood Icon Who Almost Played John Dutton On Yellowstone

As Yellowstone fans know well, co-creator Taylor Sheridan has a talent for bringing Hollywood icons to the show and its prequels. While fans likely can’t imagine anyone else in the role of John Dutton, it turns out another iconic cowboy could have had the role. Read on to find out who Sheridan was trying to rope in for the role.

Hollywood icon that almost played John Dutton in Yellowstone

Yellowstone and its prequels and spinoffs are a major success story for co-creator Taylor Sheridan. However, as the flagship Paramount show is about to come to an end, interesting news has come out regarding an actor who almost played patriarch John Dutton in the show. As Kevin Costner leaves the modern Western series, fans will likely agree that the Dances With Wolves actor was a major part of the show’s success.

However, interesting news tells us that Yellowstone almost became an HBO series starring a different Western icon – Robert Redford. While Redford isn’t known for Western roles like Clint Eastwood or John Wayne, one of his favorite roles was as The Sundance Kid alongside Paul Newman’s Butch Cassidy. In fact, he loved his role in the 1969 movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid so much that he named his Utah-based film festival after that character, Sundance.

Taylor Sheridan on Robert Redford for Yellowstone

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Taylor Sheridan explained that when Yellowstone was still in development at HBO, the executives told him, “We want Robert Redford.” He said he was told, “If you can get us Robert Redford, we’ll greenlight the pilot.”

Sheridan continued, saying he drove to Sundance and spent the day with Redford and got him to agree to play John Dutton. However, when he called the senior vice president in charge of production at HBO and told him “I got him!” the executive said, “You got who?”

Taylor explained to the executive, “You said if I got Robert Redford, you’d greenlight the show,” adding: “And he says – and you can’t make this sh*t up – ‘We meant a Robert Redford type.’”

As Redford is in his eighties you might think him agreeing to be the star of a TV show sounds unlikely. However, Sheridan hired another octogenarian, Harrison Ford, to star in the prequel 1923.

Readers, what is your reaction to the news that Robert Redford had originally agreed to play the role of John Dutton? Would you have preferred him to play the role rather than Kevin Costner? Let us know by dropping a comment below.

In the meantime, here’s a rather bad-quality trailer for Redford’s Western role in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.