‘Yellowstone’ Season 5, Episode 11 cast Vinessa Shaw as a medical examiner performing John Dutton’s autopsy. What to know about the ‘Hocus Pocus’ guest role.
With less than half a season remaining, Yellowstone is still finding ways to surprise viewers at home — and not just with jaw-dropping character deaths!
Season 5, Episode 9 featured an iconic Billy Klapper cameo, Episode 10 surprised viewers with actor and war veteran Jake McLaughlin, and Episode 11 welcomed another familiar face as a medical examiner: Vinessa Shaw.
Yellowstone Season 5, Episode 11, “Three Fifty-Three,” kicked off with — yep, you guessed it! — even more flashbacks! This time, the show gave viewers a front-row seat to John Dutton’s murder. We saw three men attack him while he was sleeping, drug him with a needle to the foot, carry him into the bathroom, and force his hand to pull the trigger. His suicide was carefully staged, just as Beth (Kelly Reilly) suspected. And after her convincing argument cast doubt about the cause of death in Kayce’s (Luke Grimes) mind, he headed to the Lewis & Clarke County Coroner’s Office to meet with the medical examiner.
So who was the medical examiner on Yellowstone Season 5, Episode 11? And what do we know about Vinessa Shaw, the actor who played her? Here’s everything to know about Yellowstone‘s latest exciting guest star, including a nostalgic Instagram post from Shaw herself.
After Kayce stormed the coroner’s office, he met with Dr. Everly (Shaw) and asked to see a report on John Dutton as well as his body. When the medical examiner informed him the Livestock Commissioner doesn’t have those rights, he reminded her that the next of kin does and she handed him the report.
Kayce swiftly requested a toxicology report, which was met with more pushback from Everly, who said the detective assigned to his dad’s case would have to order it. In an extremely Dutton move, Kayce dialed the detective, put him on speaker phone, and had him agree to the tox report and a re-exam for signs of struggle within seconds. The medical examiner agreed and said she’d report back with her findings, but that wasn’t good enough for Kayce, who asked, “What’s on that desk that’s more important than the death of the governor?”
After invoking the Livestock Commissioner’s right to enter any room without a warrant, the team wheeled out a naked body (as a reminder, Kevin Costner wasn’t in Season 5, Part 2) and Kayce asked, “If you were investigating this as a homicide, what would you look for?”
The medical examiner assured Kayce that had his father been murdered, there would have been “quite a struggle,” and Kayce reminded her that he would have been asleep when his hit men entered his room.
