What is “Yellowstone”?
Paramount Network’s new western drama series “Yellowstone” premiered in June 2018. The show was created by John Linson and Taylor Sheridan and boasts a talented cast, starring Cole Hauser, Luke Grimes, Kelly Reilly, Wes Bentley, Gil Birmingham, and Kevin Costner. The main storyline is the conflict that takes place in the shared borders of an Indian reservation, a cattle ranch, and land developers, and the main characters are the Dutton family, owners of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, which is the largest in Montana. Season five of “Yellowstone” aired in November 2022.
Taylor Sheridan began working on the series in 2013 while taking a break from acting. Based on his real-life experiences in Wyoming and Texas, “Yellowstone”, was one of his first screenplays. The show was pitched to HBO and numerous other networks, but rejected several times before eventually being picked up by Paramount Network and becoming its first scripted series. Taylor is the director, main writer, and executive producer of “Yellowstone”. Some of the other executive producers were David Glasser, Harvey Weinstein, and John and Art Linson, mostly representing The Weinstein Company or Linson Entertainment.
Months before the show premiered, Paramount announced that Harvey Weinstein and The Weinstein Company would be scrubbed from the credits of “Yellowstone”. At the time, several actresses were coming forward to accuse the Hollywood mogul of sexual abuse. As such, The Weinstein Company disappeared from the series despite playing an important part in its production.
Most of the filming, which began in August 2017, took place in Montana’s Chief Joseph Ranch and Park City, Utah, actually in over 20 locations and finished in December. In August 2020, the production companies rented an undisclosed location in Montana for all future filming operations.
Caroline Warner
Caroline Warner is a “Yellowstone” character who first appears in the show’s fourth season. As the CEO of Market Equities, Caroline’s firm plans to build an airport by buying out landowners in Montana, which is where the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch and the Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock enter the picture.
Many confused viewers thought that Caroline was played by Sally Struthers; however, the actress who portrays the fierce businesswoman is none other than Jacki Weaver. Sally and Jacki are both blondes in their mid-70s with raspy voices, and have even been called “spiritual twins” in the past, so the mix-up is understandable.
Jacki Weaver was born in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, in May 1947 and is known for her notable roles in “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Animal Kingdom”, having received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress for both films. Jacki also boasts an extensive stage background, and prior to joining “Yellowstone”, had roles in “Gracepoint”, “Blunt Talk”, and “Perpetual Grace, LTD”.
Meanwhile, Sally Struthers is best known for playing Gloria Stivic in “All in the Family”. Fans of the classic sitcom will fondly remember Gloria, who was Edith and Archie’s daughter and Michael “Meathead” Stivic’s wife. Some of Sally’s other well-known roles include her portrayal of Babette in “Gilmore Girls”; she has also done voiceover work in “The Wild Thornberrys”, “Dinosaurs”, and “Tom & Jerry Kids”.
There has also been some doubt regarding the future of Caroline Warner’s character in seasons five and beyond of “Yellowstone”. For now, we can confirm that Caroline has not been written out of the show. As fans of the series will know, the CEO recently fired Beth for leaking internal company data. Due to Beth’s betrayal, Caroline is currently feuding with the whole Dutton dynasty, and is ready to wipe them out by any means necessary.
Main Characters: Part 1
John Dutton III is one of the show’s protagonists and the patriarch of the Dutton clan, which settled in Montana generations earlier. John and Evelyn Dutton had three children named Lee, Beth and Kayce, as well as an adopted son named Jamie. Evelyn died of internal bleeding and a spinal injury in March 1997 after a tragic horse-riding accident which left the family permanently scarred.
Lee, John and Evelyn’s firstborn, would later be fatally shot while trying to protect the family ranch and take back cattle that had been stolen from the Duttons. The culprit was Robert Long, a tribe member of the Broken Rock Indian Reservation; Lee’s death was witnessed by Kayce, who arrived too late to help his brother.
A few months after Evelyn passed away, an orphan child named Rip Wheeler began living on the family ranch after being caught trespassing nearby. John allowed Rip to earn his keep by working on the ranch, later learning that the youngster had killed his murderous father in self-defense. Over time, Rip and Beth forged a close bond and even became married.
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Monica Long, John’s daughter-in-law and Robert Long’s sister, had a son named Tate and gave birth to a second child named after his grandfather, but who died a few hours after his birth, as Monica and Tate were involved in an unpleasant car accident while on the way to the hospital.
The Dutton patriarch’s colon cancer diagnosis rocked the family, despite John initially keeping it a secret. Despite a successful operation in which two feet of John’s colon, as well as the tumor, were removed, John decided not to tell his children. However, they later found out through a close family friend and confronted him regarding the matter.
A while after the operation, John underwent a CT scan after his doctor spotted a strange mass. As John didn’t have time for an endoscopy, he left the hospital without booking the appointment, but was forced to return for an operation when he began coughing up blood. John finally took Dr. Fielding’s advice, and began physical therapy after the health scare.
After years of mourning his beloved wife, John embarked on a relationship with his childhood friend and former Governor of Montana, Lynelle Perry. Lynelle and John knew each other well and had plenty in common, as she was also a grieving widow trying to overcome the loss of her husband. Ultimately, the relationship didn’t work out, but both parties remained on amicable terms.
John was a Livestock Commissioner of the Montana Livestock Association prior to becoming Governor of Montana. When Lynelle announced that she would be relocating to Washington, she hinted that Jamie should run for governor, but John disagreed and announced his own candidacy. In the end, John won the election and was appointed as Lynelle’s replacement, despite his relationship with Jamie suffering.
Beth Dutton was born in summer 1984 and is the only daughter of John and Evelyn. She is also the most emotionally volatile sibling with a surprisingly dark backstory. When she was younger, Beth turned to her brother Jamie for help when she became pregnant and wanted a secret abortion. Jamie and Beth went to the free clinic on the Broken Rock Reservation, and when he learned that the operation would leave her sterile, he decided not to tell his sister. Beth was understandably distraught when she found out after the fact and lost all trust in her brother.
Beth and Rip Wheeler’s unlikely relationship took a turn when John said that the latter would probably never ask for her hand in marriage. A stubborn Beth took matters into her own hands and proposed to Rip when he came home from work one day. When Rip said yes, she forced a Father of the Catholic Church to officiate the marriage ceremony which took place at the ranch.
Cassidy Reid and Victoria Jenkins are some of Beth’s other possible love interests, as she is bisexual and has hinted to being strongly attracted to both. She also cheated on Rip with a lawyer’s girlfriend. A strange twist of fate led to Beth working for Caroline Warner, one of John’s enemies; before, Beth was in charge of the Mergers and Acquisitions department at Schwartz & Meyer, but when Lee died, John asked Beth to help with legal and business matters at the ranch. After leaving her job at Schwartz & Meyer, Beth ended up on bad terms with her former boss, and accepted the job with Caroline Warner as a means of revenge.
Beth is a traumatized and unstable character who almost shot herself in the head during a depressive episode after feeling guilty that she couldn’t save Evelyn. Although she ultimately decided not to pull the trigger, she was later attacked by two masked men who were enemies of her family and wanted to rape and kill her. During the attack, Beth also witnessed the masked men murder her assistant, Jason. Luckily, Rip saved the day and took out the masked men before they could hurt Beth even more, but the distressing incident made her even more neurotic.
Main Characters: Part 2
Kayce Dutton was born in April 1990, and along with Beth, witnessed Evelyn’s accident on the day of her death. While Beth went to seek help, Kayce was left alone with his mother, who slowly died of her injuries. Years later, he also witnessed Lee’s agonizing death at the hands of Robert Long.
Despite the Longs and Duttons feuding, Kayce fell in love with Monica Long, Robert’s brother and the granddaughter of Indian elder Felix Long. The warring families found it hard to accept the union but had no choice, although Kayce was effectively exiled from the ranch for years, and lived on the Broken Rock Indian Reservation.
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Tragedy struck yet again when baby John, Kayce and Monica’s second son, died hours after his birth. Although Kayce, a former United States Navy SEAL, was accustomed to death and was even forced to kill innocent civilians during some of his missions, the loss of his son was almost too much for him to handle.
After a particularly intense military mission during which Kayce had to kill a family of three, he left the army and worked as a horseman on the Broken Rock Reservation. John offered an olive branch and told his son that he could live and work on the ranch again if he so wished. Kayce said yes, and eventually became foreman of the ranch, a position formerly held by Lee and Rip. He also worked as a Livestock Agent for the Montana Livestock Association.
Kayce had a serious run-in with the law when he was arrested by the Tribal Police after killing two men who was abducted a young girl. However, he was supported by the girl’s father, who had helped Kayce cover up the murders, and the Tribal Police eventually released him after hearing his version of events.
Rip Wheeler was born and raised on a pig farm near Miles City. He lived through his parents’ divorce when he was just a child, but never imagined that his father would return years later to kill the whole Wheeler family. During the brutal murders, Rip was knocked out by his father, and when he came to, he saw him stabbing his mother to death after killing his younger brother. In an act of self-defense, Rip cracked his father’s skull open and saved himself.
While living with the Duttons during his adolescent years, Rip and a ranch hand named Walker almost came to blows while competing for Beth’s affection. In the end, Walker left the ranch and Rip pursued a relationship with Beth which would go through numerous rough patches before they married. However, it’s clear that John always considered him part of the family, as he’d adopted him and given him a chance when nobody else would. For this reason, Rip is utterly loyal to John and has committed many crimes and dirty deeds on his behalf while holding the position of foreman of the ranch.
Want to watch Rip Wheeler again and again? Get #YellowstoneTV season 3 on the Apple TV app: https://t.co/kmMxF0F1qz pic.twitter.com/DtC2LrFLXl
— Yellowstone (@Yellowstone) July 14, 2020
When Kayce killed his brother-in-law Robert Long, Rip was given the task of intimidating the medical examiner so that the latter would write a false report that didn’t incriminate Kayce. Upon discovering that the medical examiner was addicted to drugs, Rip murdered him and covered it up to make it look like an accident. On another occasion during the show’s second season, Rip and Jamie killed a meddling journalist and made her death look like a kayaking accident.
It’s been speculated that in the latest season of “Yellowstone”, Rip’s unsavory past will catch up to him and he’ll be arrested. So far, he’s also oblivious to Beth’s affair with a lawyer’s girlfriend, which would obviously affect their marriage if he found out.
Despite being a cold-blooded murderer, Rip is also a fan favorite, and viewers look forward to seeing his character’s evolution.
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