The Duttons will officially be back in the fall, and we can't wait to see where they will end up this season. But until then, the cast and creators of Yellowstone have been good at keeping their fans entertained by showing behind-the-scenes content and fun interviews.
This time around, Luke Grimes, Kelsey Asbille, Kevin Costner, Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser sat down with The Hollywood Reporter's Scott Feinberg to discuss the new season. The co-stars gather up at the Chief Joseph Ranch in Darby, Montana, which is the set of the show.
Costner, who portrays John Dutton, explained how Yellowstone was a true western series, by having that old-school charm but still modern enough to give it that real emotion. The actor compared the Western aesthetic to the Shakespeare Era saying they were at times hard to make, but Taylor Sheridan knows how to perfect the era.
@yellowstone “If you try to write like Taylor [Sheridan], chances are you’re not going to get there.” #YellowstoneTV
"They're really hard to make. From a Western standpoint, the reason why there are so many bad ones is because they don't realize how complicated it was. And Westerns aren't based just on the gunfight," he noted. "They're based on the literature of how people lived their life and how they spoke with each other. The danger that was involved with living in an unknown area without really a level of protection that we know today, this particular century."
Really passionate about this project, he continued, "When you make a Western, if you don't acknowledge those abilities, that native intelligence, and also the random acts of violence that occurred when you're out here, I think that's why they can miss the mark more often than they make it. It's complicated. It's our Shakespeare, really, the Western. You know, 'yep' doesn't just mean yep. It might mean, 'that's the last word I'm having with you, fella.' But it's our Shakespeare, if you will."
@yellowstone Cole Hauser (aka Rip Wheeler) on the horsemanship of YellowstoneTV.
Speaking about why they were so attached to the show, almost all the cast members agreed it was due to Sheridan's brilliant writing and great casting. Asbille, who plays Monica Long-Dutton, said she began working with Sheridan on Wind River, and automatically knew the show was going to be a hit. "He contacted me and told me about Yellowstone, and I sound like a broken record too but I'd follow him anywhere. He's one of America's greatest storytellers," she stated.
Hauser, who plays Rip, went on to say he grew up in the western scene, moving around the country as a kid; He grew up with horses and cattle, so being part of Yellowstone felt right to him. "It's been 5 years of jumping on different horses, different saddles, different disciplines, reining, roping, and I'm still working on it. It's just something you'll forever be working on.
https://www.tiktok.com/@yellowstone/video/7115161692551564586
"It's always different, you never know what to expect. Sort of like this job, you never know what to expect," said Grimes, who plays Kacey Dutton. "But it's always a good time, you know, the point is to A- learn, get better, mess up and figure out what you're doing. B- sort of just have that comradery and get everyone sorts of on the same page. It's like, to have this experience that I've had on this job is priceless. I feel very lucky."
As far as how ahead the cast was from the season 5 storyline Costner joked that there might be some paranoia between the cast, saying they were afraid one of them might know more than the other. "There are no manipulations with the script and there doesn't need to be, you don't really need a pride of authorship when something is working," Costner said.
"He's [Sheridan] written every episode, every word for five seasons," Reilly, who plays Beth Dutton chimed in. "When we started filming we had four episodes in season one. So that's what we had, we read the four episodes and I never asked questions about the future, I always asked about the past."
@yellowstone When Rip smiles, we smile. #YellowstoneTV #RipTok
In regards to Beth's love story with Rip, Reilly knew that the two characters were meant to be from the start. "It was clear that these two characters were soulmates and that was clearly the direction he was going to take them but whether she [Beth] was going to let that happen. And of course, now we know that they are married and you know, who knows what the future holds for them. I mean, we don't know."
The show has been loved by many fans through the years, breaking a record last year after the season 4 finale was the most-watched telecast on cable since 2017. When asked about the recent recognition and awards they were finally getting, Costner stated, "It's easy to be popular, it's hard to be relevant. I think Taylor [Sheridan] chose to be relevant to himself and this world, this is what he wants to write about."
"We can't discount our work just because it isn't popular. If this show wasn't popular I would still feel the way about the work, or what is going on," he continued.
"We started as a grassroots show and when you start as a Grassroots show you have a core audience that really follows you and falls in love with you," Hauser added.
"They [the audience] start talking and we've slowly just made our way to the edges of this country where you guys [The Hollywood Reporter] are showing up," he joked. "So the thing is that Luke [Grimes] and I would roll around Park City, Salt Lake City, wherever we were to have fun and people would come up."
"My apologies for taking a while," Feinberg sheepishly apologize on behalf of The Hollywood Reporter as the cast giggled.
Yellowstone is set to premiere on Sunday, Nov. 13. Other cast members include Wes Bentley, Brecken Merrill, Jefferson White, Forrie Smith, Denim Richards, Jennifer Landon, Piper Perabo, Ian Bohen, Finn Little, Ryan Bingham and Gil Birmingham.
