What role does Josh Lucas play in Yellowstone? Character explored in depth 

Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone might be over for now, but he is keen on expanding the Western Universe further.

One actor introduced in Yellowstone Season 1, and again bought in Season 5 is Josh Lucas, who plays the role of young John Dutton. Lucas stepped in to play the younger version of Kevin Costner's character, who made an early exit from the show after a rift with Sheridan.

Lucas' character appears in flashbacks where viewers get a glimpse into the life of John when he was young and was not burdened with his family and ranch responsibilities. It also adds depth to the story as we realize the complexity and context of the ranch and learn why John is so protective of it.

Josh Lucas always wanted to be a part of Sheridan's Yellowstone

While Josh first appears in Yellowstone Season 1 Episode 3, it is not until Season 5 that we see him in full capacity as a young John Dutton. Josh's young John portrayal is an important part of the show as it adds depth to his character and audiences learn how was the Dutton family patriarch back in the day.

In an interview with Deadline, Lucas revealed how he was approached to play young John even before the show's inception, and Sheridan told him that while he would appear here and there in Season 1, his major role would be in Season 5, which means that Sheridan was positive that the show would continue for at least five seasons.

But, Lucas always wanted to be a part of the show because he enjoyed Sheridan's writing. He wanted to be a bigger part of Yellowstone, as he spoke about in a Deadline interview:

''I wanted to be in the pilot. In fact, I’ve not said this to people, I really wanted to play Rip. But he clearly wanted Cole Hauser and it was kinda cool for me because I’ve known Cole since we were like 17, 18 years old.''

He added:

''I think I came in episode three or episode four, I forget exactly...These people were creating something and they were pouring their hearts and souls into it, but there was no success to it yet.''

Josh Lucas has expressed his desire to work on his own Yellowstone prequel as a young John Dutton

Considering that Lucas always wanted to be a part of the Yellowstone universe and play Rip on the show, he has expressed his desire to explore his character further in a Young John Dutton spin-off series.

In an interview with ScreenRant, he discussed this possibility,

''It [playing Costner] was a crazy almost duality or bipolar reality because obviously John Dutton is a dark, powerful mysterious figure, and I'm basing it all on what Kevin has done, but I also think it's a world that I would absolutely love to explore further.''

It is no surprise that Sheridan is interested in fleshing out the Dutton family tree, which has many prequels to come out. With 1923 Season 2, 1883, and an upcoming spin-off, 1944, fans will get to see the years leading up to John Lucas becoming the Dutton patriarch.

With all these spin-offs, we think a prequel featuring young John starring Josh Lucas might be possible, as Sheridan has also expressed his disappointment on not giving his character the proper farewell he deserved, in Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2.

While nothing is confirmed yet, we hope to see Lucas as John in the future.

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