While his time on Yellowstone has been extremely short-lived thus far, without any major changes expected going into the final Season 5 episodes and other upcoming Yellowstone series, Dave Annable has still managed to somehow earn something of a fan-favorite distinction for portraying Lee Dutton. And even though he only appeared three times as Kayce and Beth’s late sibling, Annable says one aspect of his character was pretty much dictated by former series lead Kevin Costner: his hair color.
Dave Annable can currently be seen during the Fall TV season amidst the cast of Special Ops: Lioness Season 2 as Neal McNamara, husband of Zoe Saldaña’s station chief Joe, where he’s able to rock his naturally graying hair and beard without issues. But that apparently wasn’t the case on Yellowstone, where his character was more or less required to go non-natural as Lee, which he discovered when he made the request to play the role without any additional changes.
Speaking to People about co-starring in both Taylor Sheridan dramas, the actor said:
I asked and this one they said yes. I asked on Yellowstone, and God bless Mr. [Kevin] Costner, he was like, 'No – you're going to dye it. I don't want to look that old.' I was like, 'Oh, okay. Copy that. That makes sense.'
For all that I definitely remember each of Lee Dutton’s scenes, with his ghostly return supplying one of the best moments and quotes from Season 4 finale, I couldn’t say with any amount of confidence what color the character’s hair was. I guess if it had been bright purple, that would have stood out, but not so much light brown.
Thankfully for Annable, that hair-related stipulation wasn’t part of the process in taking on the role of Neal, and he doesn’t need to work hair-dying time into his schedule. He continued, saying:
So yeah, [for] this one I think it works. We're able to use it. It looks doctor-y.
It’d be one thing for Kevin Costner to make that kind of demand for Josh Lucas, who actually played the younger iteration of John Dutton in Yellowstone flashbacks over the years, and put in the work to look as much like the Oscar winner as possible. Though he drew the line at having his broken nose reworked to look like Costner’s.
If Lucas was showing gray hair, that could obviously be directly connected to what older John’s hair looked like. But it’s a bit more of a stretch to think that Lee Dutton showing gray in one of Yellowstone’s flashbacks or dream sequences would suddenly remind all viewers that Kevin Costner isn’t a teenager. Egos and confidence are everything for actors, of course, and good on Annable for going along with it respectfully, but I wonder if anyone has ever balked at such a demand from the Horizon director.
Unfortunately for John Dutton's biggest fanatics, Kevin Costner won't be back for the fifth and presumably final season of Yellowstone, which still has a sequel season up for potential development with Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly. It'll kick off on Paramount Network on Sunday, November 15. But before that comes around, be sure to check out Season 2 of Special Ops: Lioness streaming Sunday nights with a Paramount+ subscription.