“Yellowstone” is back and TV’s most popular series is getting even more complicated as it enters its fifth season. The Taylor Sheridan-created series (he also writes almost every episode) examines family and faith in the modern day west, investigating what it takes to raise (and maintain) a family on grounds that are shifting – politically, culturally and otherwise. But it’s also a great big romp, centered on a treacherous family and the very bad things they do.
Check out our complete “Yellowstone” Season 5 cast and character guide below.
Kevin Costner as John Dutton
Costner returns as John Dutton, the current patriarch of the Dutton Family Ranch aka the Yellowstone, a Montana dynasty that (as we are seeing thanks to the various prequel series) has existed for a very, very long time. As season five begins he has just been elected governor of Montana, which means that the old ranch hand will now be entering a situation more dangerous than any he’s found himself in before – politics. You know Costner from movies like “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” “Dances with Wolves” and “No Way Out” and more recently in projects like “Man of Steel.” A true tough guy legend.
Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton
John Dutton’s youngest surviving son, Luke is now living with his wife and young son on their own property, away from the ranch. As season five begins we see Dutton’s unique approach to being a livestock agent, as well as Kayce dealing with the impending birth of his second child. One of the questions that’ll be hovering over this season will be how his vision quest from season 4 affects him this year. You’ve seen Grimes in the “Fifty Shades of Grey” movies and an arc on HBO’s seminal vampire series “True Blood.”
Cole Hauser as Rip Wheeler
Rip is the Duttons’ enforcer; he gets stuff done even if that means getting his hands dirty. In recent seasons his on-again/off-again romance with John’s daughter Beth (Kelly Reilly) has become firmly on-again, with the two of them getting married in an impromptu ceremony last season. They’ve also adopted a young boy, of sorts, who is now working on the ranch. A dysfunctional family, but a family none-the-less. The son of actor Wings Hauser, you have probably seen Hauser in movies ranging from “Dazed and Confused” to “Pitch Black” to “Olympus Has Fallen.”
Kelly Reilly as Beth Dutton
Beth serves as the financial arm of the Dutton octopus, using her power and influence to pull the strings behind-the-scenes. (She is both protective of her father and feels incredibly guilty, as she caused the accidental death of her beloved mother.) Beth has currently come under fire from Caroline Warner (Jacki Weaver), the CEO of Market Equities, a firm that wants to exploit and consume the Dutton ranch. Now she has moved, like her father, into the political sector. But will she become a liability in the long run? Reilly has appeared in the two Robert Downey, Jr. “Sherlock Holmes” movies, Joe Wright’s “Pride and Prejudice” and Robert Zemeckis’ “Flight.” On TV she starred in the contentious second season of HBO’s “True Detective.”
Wes Bentley as Jamie Dutton
The middle child in the Dutton brood, Jamie is a lawyer who also schemes behind-the-scenes. Originally earmarked for the governorship, his father John ultimately usurped him, leading to a very awkward family dynamic. Or should we say “family” dynamic? Jamie has learned, over the course of the show’s four seasons that he was, in fact, adopted by the Dutton family. And in the past two seasons he has reconnected with his deadbeat father (Will Patton), who orchestrated a coordinated attack on the Dutton family. (It was shocking.) In the last season, Jamie learned that he had fathered a child and wound up murdering his own father, something that Beth has evidence of and is now blackmailing Jamie into staying with the family and helping her father succeed at all costs. Bentley made a splash in 1999’s “American Beauty” and has appeared in “Interstellar,” Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon” and “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” in the years since. On television he’s been a regular “American Horror Story” player, having appeared in the “Roanoke,” “Freak Show” and “Hotel” cycles.
Kelsey Asbille as Monica Long Dutton
Monica Long Dutton is the Indigenous wife of Kayce Dutton. She has tried to keep him on the straight-and-narrow; when the series started they were both living on the reservation. They briefly lived with the Duttons in the “Big House” but now live on their own. At the beginning of season 5 she is pregnant and very nearly ready to give birth. A staple in her community, her placement within the Dutton family means that she could be a force for good … or at least change. If anybody listened to her, that is. Asbille is a Sheridan veteran, having starred in his 2017 feature “Wind River.” On TV she’s appeared on “Teen Wolf” and the fourth season of “Fargo” (the Chris Rock season).
Gil Birmingham as Chief Thomas Rainwater
Rainwater is the chief of the fictional Broken Rock Indian Reservation. He wishes to reclaim the land the Dutton ranch was built on, claiming that the land was stolen by his people. And if he can’t reclaim the land outright, he’ll make it very hard for the Duttons to function autonomously. In earlier seasons he has schemed with various Dutton haters. At the beginning of season 5, he is seen attending John Dutton’s inauguration and getting pressured to do something more severe about the family.
