Luke Grimes’ favorite Yellowstone scene is a perfect Dutton moment that never happened again. Yellowstone‘s five-season run on Paramount Network turned it into one of the biggest shows on television and turned the Duttons’ Montana legacy into a hit-making franchise for Taylor Sheridan. Grimes now leads Yellowstone‘s successful network spinoff, Marshals on CBS.
The Dutton family’s saga in Yellowstone and its prequels, 1883 and 1923, is marked by violence and tragedy. When Yellowstone‘s series premiere, “Daybreak,” introduces Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes), the youngest son of John Dutton III (Kevin Costner) is a prodigal who fled his family’s ranch to live on the Broken Rock reservation with his wife, Monica (Kelsey Asbille), and their young son, Tate (Breckin Merrill).
Kayce could not escape his last name or the violence that follows him anywhere he goes. In Yellowstone‘s series premiere, Kayce reluctantly brings Tate to the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch for the first time to meet his grandfather and uncles, Lee (Dave Annable) and Jaime Dutton (Wes Bentley). What followed was a brief respite from the Duttons’ grief and pain that only happened this one time.
The Dutton Men Rode Together For The First & Only Time In Yellowstone’s Series Premiere
Taylor Sheridan wrote and directed Yellowstone‘s series premiere, and he made sure to include a perfect moment that only happened once in the entire saga: John, Lee, Jamie, Kayce, and Tate Dutton all riding together. The Dutton men first herded buffalo on horseback, then Kayce, his brothers, and his son went fishing in the river.
Afterward, the Dutton brothers and Tate sat by a campfire, Lee and Jamie questioned why Kayce chose to raise his son on the Broken Rock reservation, and Lee and Kayce got into an argument, which ended when Tate defended his dad and threw his fish at Lee, calling him a “f*ucker!”, which sent the brothers into hysterics.
When promoting Marshals, Luke Grimes told Entertainment Weekly that this scene was his Yellowstone audition: “That’s what got me the job. And then doing that scene on the day was really special. It’s one of the best scenes in all of Yellowstone that I was in.”
Jamie agreed with Tate, and so do Yellowstone viewers: “It’s a good day.” The Dutton men’s campfire scene was made all the more special, heartwarming, and heartwrenching, in hindsight, because it would never happen again.
By the end of Yellowstone‘s series premiere, Lee would be shot dead by Monica’s brother. This was the first of multiple tragedies that befell the Duttons throughout Yellowstone‘s five seasons.
Yellowstone Ended With The Duttons Torn Apart
The golden moment with the Dutton men together in Yellowstone‘s season premiere still wasn’t the last time John Dutton’s family was whole. As Yellowstone episode 3 revealed in a flashback, the Duttons suffered their first loss when their matriarch, Evelyn Dutton (Gretchen Moll), died in an accident on March 30, 1997. John never got over losing his wife, and it was a wound he carried until his own death.
Taylor Sheridan Flat-Out Told Us Yellowstone’s Endgame 6 Years Before It Happened
Just three episodes into Yellowstone, writer-director Taylor Sheridan laid out how John Dutton would lose his beloved ranch years before it happened.
Not long after becoming the Governor of Montana, John Dutton was murdered by hitmen hired by his enemies, and an unsuspecting Jamie Dutton, who was complicit. John’s death was a hasty rewrite by Taylor Sheridan after Kevin Costner quit Yellowstone halfway through its fifth and final season. However, it’s possible that Sheridan’s endgame would still have seen John die at the end of the series.
After Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and her husband, Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser), killed Jamie in revenge for their father, and dumped Jamie’s body in the Train Station, Beth and Kayce are the last two survivors among John Dutton’s children. Kayce sold the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch to the Broken Rock reservation, and he and Beth went their separate ways with their families in Yellowstone‘s series finale.
The mighty Duttons’ 140-year reign over the Yellowstone is now over. While Kayce could one day reunite with Beth, who moved to South Texas for her own spinoff, Dutton Ranch, the days of their family lording over the majestic land of Montana are in the past. Still, neither Beth nor Kayce regrets walking away from their family’s legacy.
Knowing how the story of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch ended makes the sight of the Dutton men riding, fishing, and laughing together in Yellowstone’s series premiere even more cherished upon rewatch.
- Release Date
-
2018 – 2024
- Network
-
Paramount Network
- Showrunner
-
Taylor Sheridan
- Directors
-
Stephen Kay, Taylor Sheridan, Christina Alexandra Voros, Guy Ferland, John Dahl
- Writers
-
John Coveny, Ian McCulloch
