As one of the most watched programs on television, Yellowstone has many fans. They can be intense.
To the dismay of many long-time viewers, Kevin plays Costner Yellowstone‘s main character and patriarch John Dutton left the series to focus on his self-financed Western film series, Horizon, following planning issues. The show, which follows John’s struggle to protect his family farm from developers and other outsiders, is back after a long hiatus for the second half of its final season.
Wes Bentley, who plays John’s adopted son Jamie, knows that his character appears to be the show’s main villain as it comes to a close. However, fans don’t always see him that way, he said.
“There is a group of fans I meet who see Jamie as the protagonist and his family as the antagonist,” he told Yahoo Entertainment. “He is definitely the bad guy for most people who see John and his vision for the ranch as valid.”
John’s main goal over the course of the show was to preserve and protect the family property of Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, the largest contiguous cattle ranch in the United States. Jamie, a lawyer who will eventually become Attorney General of Montana if John is elected governor, is more receptive to the sale of the ranch, open to progress, and eager to gain political power.
Bentley said he struggled to “let Jamie go” in the two years he waited between filming new episodes, which was difficult because Jamie is “not a pleasant person to be around.”
“[Jamie is] such an unstable guy because [he’s] not really anything. He doesn’t know who he is and he doesn’t know what he really wants,” Bentley explained. “He’s an intense guy and every scene is an intense scene.”
He appreciates the way he treats him Yellowstone fans help him come to terms with his character.
“It’s an enthusiastic fan base that’s not into crazy or anything,” he said. “They really just want to talk about the show. For me, it’s a lot of therapy talk: What’s wrong with Jamie? Why can’t we fix it?”
Bentley teased that Jamie will face off against his sister Beth and his father at the start of Season 5B.
“They are willing to go as far as they can to stop Jamie, and Jamie is also always against himself because he is a self-saboteur,” he said. “He destroys a lot. So a lot of things can go wrong when Jamie tries something.”
Many fans consider Beth Dutton, John’s financially savvy but chaotic daughter, their favorite character and her relationship with Rip Wheeler to be a highlight of the show. Kelly Reilly, the actress who plays Beth, told Yahoo Entertainment that this isn’t the case for everyone.
“There are people who love Beth, and there are people who can’t stand her and would like to see Rip with anyone other than her,” Reilly said. She credits showrunner Taylor Sheridan’s writing as the reason so many fans have strong opinions about Beth and Rip.
Cole Hauser, who plays the Dutton family fixer Rip, told Yahoo Entertainment that he thinks most viewers see “how beautiful they are for each other.”
“[Playing] Those scenes with Kelly — whether you’re sitting on the porch in my cabin in the morning or sitting on the roof looking at the stars — there’s so much romance in those scenes,” Hauser said.
“It feels like a fantasy. So I think people have just let that love story in and it feels good,” Reilly added.
Beth will be competing against “everything and everyone and herself” this season, Reilly said. She tries to protect her father from Jamie and keep the ranch financially afloat while Rip heads to Texas to save their cattle.
“I won’t reveal it, but there’s a pretty amazing scene in it [Beth] comes down and surprised [Rip]“To say the least,” Hauser said. “I don’t think the audience really understands what’s in store for them.”
Luke Grimes and Kelsey Asbille, who play the tough and complex rancher and cattleman Kayce Dutton and his wife Monica, also told Yahoo Entertainment that their characters will have a lot to do this season.
“[Kayce] definitely needs to finally make some decisions,” Grimes said. “He’s stuck in a situation of, ‘I don’t know what to do’… so he’s made up his mind and he’s going for it.”
As for Monica, Asbille says she’s been playing against “the Dutton ranch” for five seasons now, but she’s “finally moving forward.”
The show may be coming to an end, but it has changed Grimes’ life in more ways than one. The actor fell in love with Montana during filming and moved there with his wife.
“It’s a great place. They call it the “last best place,” but I don’t want to advertise it because people in Montana would get mad at me. They don’t want other people moving there,” he joked. ‘Don’t go there. It’s terrible. Montana sucks.”
“There’s no train station, though,” Grimes added, referring to the Dutton family’s code for where they dump the bodies. “You would definitely go to jail if you killed people.”
Yellowstone Season 5, Part 2 premieres November 10 at 8 PM ET on Paramount Network and at 10 PM ET on CBS.
