Colby’s death in Yellowstone leaves fans stunned, but Christina Voros and Denim Richards explained how it reflects the harsh realities of cowboy life

“Ain’t no grave can hold my body down…” crooned Johnny Cash, but clearly, Colby didn’t get the memo. One minute he was wrangling horses with his signature swagger, the next… wham!, hoof to the chest, lights out.

As Yellowstone trudged through its curtain-closing season in December 2024, the last thing fans expected was Colby—sweet, steady Colby—to get taken out like a fly at a rodeo.

Taylor Sheridan, a man with a pen as sharp as a branding iron, didn’t just yank the reins on John Dutton’s dynasty; he kicked the emotional beehive wide open. Colby’s death was an oddly quiet gunshot in a season packed with explosives.

But maybe, just maybe, that was the point. And as director Christina Voros puts it, “It happens in a split-second.” Just like that… Colby wass gone.

Why did Taylor Sheridan kill Colby? Christina Voros explains his sudden exit

Richards as Colby. | Credits: Yellowstone / Paramount Pictures
Now we don’t know about you, but when we tuned in to watch Yellowstone’s fifth season, we weren’t expecting a cowboy to die a very random death.

Oh, Colby. Denim Richards played him like the ranch’s moral compass—quiet, loyal, and low-key hilarious. He wasn’t trying to out-alpha Rip, overthrow John, or start political coups like half the Dutton family.

He was just there, doing the work, romancing Teeter with his sweet-natured charm and putting in overtime on the ranch.

Then came Season 5, Episode 12. Cue death-by-hoof. Not a gunfight. Not a showdown. A literal kick. Was this death deserved? No. Was it earned? Also no. It felt like the writers spun a wheel labeled “Who Dies Next?” and it landed on Colby.

Colby’s death scene in episode 12 of season 5 part 2. | Credits: Paramount Pictures.

Let’s not pretend Taylor Sheridan doesn’t know what he’s doing. He writes with the emotional precision of a sniper and the narrative cruelty of Shakespeare on a caffeine bender. He offed John Dutton—Kevin Costner—in a move that still feels really weird.

But there’s logic under the madness. As Christina Voros has put it (via THR):

In a season where there are all these twists and turns and dark forces and giant narrative swings, Colby’s death is so powerful because it’s so simple.

For anyone who really understands the lifestyle of cowboys and working with animals and the risks of the jobs—and Rip says it about himself—it’s a dangerous job, and this kind of thing happens and it happens in a split-second.

Not everyone needs to go out in a hailstorm of bullets. Sometimes, it’s the mundane, the realistic, the “oh hell, that could actually happen” moment that leaves the biggest bruise.

Denim Richards on Colby’s Shocking Death in Yellowstone

Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2. | Credits: Paramount Pictures.
Fans were stunned not just by his death but by how unceremoniously it happened. Many called it one of the most abrupt and underwhelming character exits in the series.

Despite the backlash, actor Denim Richards surprisingly defended Taylor Sheridan’s creative choice in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly. He acknowledged the ending as “interesting and sad”, adding:
I feel like this season, Taylor is really emphasizing the realities of cowboy life. We have this saying that everyone’s going to fall off a horse at some point in their life. It’s not if, it’s just when and how bad.

\That is not a phenomenon. These things do happen, so I do think that there’s that element where I think it is about really wanting to emphasize that this is a reality.
While Richards seems to have made peace with the character’s fate, many fans haven’t. For them, Colby’s death feels like yet another casualty of what they view as increasingly rushed and careless storytelling.

Some have even gone so far as to declare the series a lost cause, claiming Sheridan is running out of steam and relying on shock value over substance.