Why Yellowstone Made The Shocking Decision to Kill Colby

The following story contains spoilers for Yellowstone season 5, episode 12, "Counting Coup."

AS YELLOWSTONE CONTINUES its march toward what theoretically could (and maybe should) be the end of the show, you'd think that as time winds down on the second half of season 5, precious screen time would be used to at least begin to wrap up the many storylines that still remain unresolved. But that is not what Yellowstone does, or what Yellowstone did.

Instead of all that, Yellowstone decided that season 5, episode 12, "Counting Coup," was a good time to create a whole new problem, by having ranch hand Colby (Denim Richards), a fixture on the show since the very first season, die after being trampled by a horse. It was a noble death, as he was helping the overwhelmed and inexperienced young cowboy Carter (Finn Little), but, still, as this storyline was unprompted and came out of absolutely nowhere, it leaves us wondering, uh, why?

With only two episodes left in season 5 of Yellowstone (and possibly/probably the series overall), it seems like the wrong time to randomly kill off an otherwise uninvolved side character and spend the bulk of the episode informing people of his untimely death and mourning him. Aren't there other major things to wrap up? Well, at least Kayce got to stick a gun in a little girl's face by the end of the episode, so there was that. But I digress.

That all did happen. And Colby is no longer with us. Poor Teeter.

To circle back on our main topic, yes, Colby did indeed die in the latest episode of Yellowstone. When Carter was trying to get water for an unruly and hard-to-tame horse, the horse started acting out—and Colby happened to be the experienced cowboy in the right place at the right time (to save Carter) but also the wrong place at the wrong time (because he ended up getting trampled and killed).

Actor Denim Richards, who plays Colby, confirmed it on his Instagram. "Grateful????????✊????????????," he wrote, in a short-but-bittersweet caption.

At the very forefront, while Colby's death comes as a total surprise in Yellowstone and creates a new storyline and issue that wasn't at all present previously, it also gave the opportunity for emotional moments between other characters. Obviously Teeter (Jen Landon), who was romantically involved with Colby, gets to have an emotionally devastating moment. Rip (Cole Hauser) gets a moment of sadness, feeling like he let down not only Colby, but his entire stable of cowboys. Carter and Beth (Kelly Reilly) have a heartfelt moment at a place that's extremely important to her. And Kayce (Luke Grimes) and Tate (Brecken Merrill) have an important and heartfelt conversation about death.

But the Yellowstone powers have also explained the reasoning behind the shocking decision to kill off a character who's been part of the show from the very beginning.

"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," Christina Voros, an executive producer and director of all four Yellowstone season 5, part 2 episodes so far, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. "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."

Her explanation makes sense. It's just that this kind of shocking narrative choice probably would've worked better in the middle of a season with plenty of show still ahead of it—not when things theoretically need to start wrapping up. We've got two episodes left in Yellowstone season 5, part 2, and we're just going to have to see how they attempt to get this jet out of uncharted air and onto some kind of runway.