If Yellowstone season 5’s finale is the end of the series, several things must happen to conclude Taylor Sheridan’s neo-Western TV series. Yellowstone season 5, part 2 experienced significant production delays, and, due to reported disputes, the series returned without Kevin Costner as John Dutton III. Without John, the other Yellowstone season 5 characters have delivered an exciting outing, though Sheridan has left countless events to conclude in the finale. Hopefully, Yellowstone season 5’s ending will pay off its best stories.
It’s been a mixed season for the Dutton family, with some wins but primarily losses. In the penultimate episode of Yellowstone season 5, Kelly Reilly’s Beth Dutton holds an auction to liquidate the estate’s assets and cover the ranch’s mortgage. The mortgage for the Dutton Ranch helps pay the massive inheritance tax, which has halted life as usual as Luke Grimes’ Kayce works with his sister to determine their options. In Yellowstone season 5, episode 13, Kayce suggests they give the ranch away. Based on that, a few things need to happen for Yellowstone’s finale to wrap up the series satisfyingly.
7
Kayce Sells The Ranch To The Broken Rock Tribe
Yellowstone Episode 13 Hints At The Ending
In Yellowstone’s season 5 finale, Kayce selling the ranch to the Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock would be an inspiring ending. The Dutton siblings’ discussion at the end of episode 13 foreshadows that Kayce and Beth will give the ranch away, as does the episode title, “Give it All Away.” Kayce asks his sister a business question, posing a hypothetical sales situation to her, looking for answers. Kayce asks Beth what the sales tax would be if she sold her $300,000 car to him for $1. When Beth asks what her brother is cooking, he doesn’t say.
Kayce is formulating a plan to sell the ranch, and we know Beth is down for it since she kisses his cheek when she figures it out before parting ways. Beth has one question: Who? Kayce has been establishing a close relationship with Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) and Mo (Moses Brings Plenty), leaning into their customs and traditions as he navigates the balance of protecting the ranch, Tate (Brecken Merrill), and Monica (Kelsey Asbille). Kayce is determined to prioritize his family over maintaining the Dutton’s family tree legacy in season 5, leaving an obvious solution.
Generations of Duttons have died protecting the ranch, and Kayce’s visions in Yellowstone season 4 suggest that he needs to choose the ranch or his family.
Generations of Duttons have died protecting their ranch, and Kayce’s visions in Yellowstone season 4 suggest that he needs to choose the ranch or his family. Therefore, Kayce’s allegiance to his family signals that he’s willing to walk away from the ranch. While it would be impossible for the Duttons to find a buyer for all their land at a fair price, Kayce has discovered the best solution. In 1883, a Yellowstone prophecy suggests that the Native people of Montana will rise and take their land back from the Dutton family, to which Kayce’s great-great-grandfather says they can have it.
Kayce giving the ranch to the Broken Rock Tribe would enable the ranch to stay whole, which John Dutton III and his father wanted. Beth’s plan for the ranch included selling parts of it off to companies interested in maintaining open spaces. The solution would break up the family’s estate and contribute to the settlement of Montana. Thus, Kayce’s teased solution to give the ranch to the Broken Rock Tribe fulfills a Yellowstone 1883 prophecy and meets each modern character’s needs. For instance, Beth has always wanted to sell the ranch, and Kayce has always tried to leave it behind.
6
Kayce, Tate, & Monica Resettle In Their Home
Kayce’s Family Settled At East Camp
In the season finale of Yellowstone season 5, part 1, John Dutton tells Monica about an area of the Dutton Ranch next to the Broken Rock reservation called East Camp. John Dutton tells his daughter-in-law there’s an old house and that it’s her family’s if they will take it. He asks Monica’s family to move into it so that Kayce can keep an eye on the ranch since, at that time, Rip (Cole Hauser) and some other cowboys are heading to Texas to look after the cattle after brucellosis threatens the herd, and he needs to govern from Helena.
The Yellowstone flashbacks show Kayce’s family settling at East Camp, perfectly blending their two worlds between the ranch and the reservation.
In Yellowstone season 5, episode 9, “Desire Is All You Need,” Kayce shows his family the house, and Tate and Monica fall in love with it. No one has occupied the distant house for years, and the place needs a little work. Still, its isolation draws Kayce and Monica to the house, and they work alongside their son to renovate it in a flashback in Yellowstone season 5, episode 10, “The Apocalypse of Change.” The Yellowstone flashbacks show Kayce’s family settling at East Camp, perfectly blending their two worlds between the ranch and the reservation.
However, duty calls Kayce back to the ranch when John Dutton III dies, and Monica and Tate leave their newly formed home behind to follow Kayce. Still, Kayce’s family can return to their slice of Paradise Valley. If Kayce gives the ranch to the Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock, he and his family can return to their home since it will be part of the reservation. Kayce prefers living with his Native American wife and son on the reservation when the series kicks off, but Monica’s grandfather, Felix (Rudy Ramos), urges him to leave when the range war breaks out.
5
Lloyd & Yellowstone’s Cowboys Find New Jobs
What Will Happen To Lloyd Now?
While the Duttons contend with their futures, the Dutton Ranch cowboys must begin writing their next chapter. The future after Yellowstone season 5 is uncertain for ranch hands like Ryan (Ian Bohen), Walker (Ryan Bingham), and Teeter (Jennifer Landon). Beth liquidates the ranch’s assets in Yellowstone season 5, episode 13, officially leaving the ranch hands without their jobs, prompting the cowboys to discuss what comes next. While the cowboys tease what’s next for them in the penultimate episode, we hope each Yellowstone ranch hand gets screentime in the finale to give a more conclusive answer about their future.
Walker teases that his next venture is in Texas. We need confirmation on that front, including if his girlfriend Laramie (Hassie Harrison) will join him. We also need answers about the future of Forrie J. Smith’s Lloyd Bridger Yellowstone character, especially after Rip promised to keep him as a ranch hand despite its operations ending. If there’s no ranch to work on after the finale, we need an idea of where Lloyd will land. Sadly, Colby’s tragic death compromised a happy ending for Teeter, but hopefully, she and Ryan find a way to start anew.
4
Beth, Rip, & Carter Plant Seeds For Yellowstone’s Spinoff
Beth And Rip Have A Yellowstone Spinoff
Just days before Yellowstone season 5’s finale, Deadline reported a confirmed Yellowstone spinoff starring Beth and Rip. On the one hand, the announcement spoiled the end of Beth and Jamie’s war in Yellowstone since we know Beth will live to see another day. Still, Beth wouldn’t likely lose to Jamie, as she had been one step ahead of him the entire series. Thus, rather than answering whether Beth will live or die while she dukes it out with her brother, Yellowstone’s season finale can forecast Beth and Rip’s future as the franchise gears up for their story.
Yellowstone teased what Beth and Rip’s spinoff will be about when Beth travels south to Texas to visit her husband in a flashback. Their romantic interlude in Yellowstone season 5, episode 10 previews Rip and Beth’s ending if John didn’t die. The story shows how Beth and Rip fit perfectly into the landscape of the Lone Star state. If the Duttons sell the ranch, Beth and Rip are no longer obligated to stay in Montana, leaving the doors open for their story. The Yellowstone finale must set up Beth and Rip’s next chapter, including how Carter (Finn Little) fits into it.
3
Thomas Rainwater & Mo Stop The Pipeline
The Broken Rock Members Are At War
In Yellowstone season 5, episode 7, Senator Lynelle Perry (Wendy Moinz) calls Thomas Rainwater into her office to report that the Department of Interior approved a pipeline that will run under the Native American reservation’s water reservoir. The development comes just days after the President of the United States visits Broken Rock, proving Thomas’ intuition is correct. As season 5 progresses, the chief is determined to fight the pipeline’s development. Thomas tells Mo the pipeline is the hill they die on, and he suggests the government can’t build a pipeline if someone takes their pipe.
While Thomas and Mo’s story progresses subtly in Yellowstone season 5, the finale will change that as Yellowstone sets up a resolution for the pipeline’s development. Hopefully, it ends with Rainwater and Mo successfully stopping the development because, as Rainwater pointed out, it could pollute their drinking water and poison their entire Indigenous community. However, Rainwater’s comments suggest fatal danger, so we hope everyone makes it out unscathed. A confirmed Yellowstone season 5 scene shows Mo and others taking charge on horseback into the night, likely related to the pipeline, the biggest threat to Paradise Valley yet.
2
John Dutton III’s Funeral
John’s Body Will Finally Return
John Dutton’s funeral will likely happen in the Yellowstone season 5 finale, and we hope it does so that the other characters can pay tribute to the man they loved and respected. Yellowstone has had its fair share of deaths throughout its five seasons, but John’s is doubtlessly the most significant since the series centered on Costner’s Dutton patriarch for most of its run. Due to John Dutton III’s fate in the Yellowstone season 5, part 2 premiere, Beth and Kayce never got to say goodbye to their father, and the season 5 finale can provide some much-needed closure.
Beth all but confirmed her father’s funeral for the finale, telling her husband in episode 13 that she wanted to bring his body back to the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch and host a private ceremony to honor his passing. Beth’s comments suggest that John Dutton’s funeral will be a family affair, although some cowboys may participate since they are like family. Laying John to rest is a proper way to cap the series, which started with the death of Lee Dutton in Yellowstone season 1. Lee’s funeral marks the Yellowstone premiere, so John’s funeral closing the show is a fitting end.
1
Beth Kills Jamie
Beth’s Death Threat Is Impending
The most significant drawn-out plot in season 5, part 2, is the war between Beth and Jamie in Yellowstone. After their father dies, Beth suspects her brother Jamie (Wes Bentley) is responsible. While Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) is directly to blame, Beth knows Jamie is guilty when he can’t look her in the eyes. Confident of her brother’s involvement, Beth vows that she will kill Jamie, finally holding him accountable for the pain he caused their family. While it’s an extreme way to end a sibling rivalry, the neo-Western thrives in its extremities, and its deaths define the show.
Whatever happens, we hope Beth and Jamie’s war builds to a satisfying conclusion since we have followed Beth and Jamie’s sibling rivalry since day one.
Taylor Sheridan is saving the war’s end for the season finale, with scenes from the Yellowstone trailer showing someone going to the train station (so Jamie might have a one-way ticket). While Yellowstone season 5, part 2, has not progressed much in the sibling war, Jamie’s sister isn’t one to forgive a grudge, and Beth will likely follow through with her threat. The only questions remaining are how it will happen and how far Beth will go to make Jamie suffer. When Beth learns that Jamie has a child, she threatens to take his son away, which is a chilling threat.
Jamie’s son returns in Yellowstone season 5, episode 13, when Jamie consults his child’s mother about his political future, which could foreshadow a gruesome future for Jamie’s whole family. Whatever happens, we hope Beth and Jamie’s war builds to a satisfying conclusion since we have followed Beth and Jamie’s sibling rivalry since day one. There’s a chance that Beth will show her brother some mercy, choosing to move on. However, the ominous scene of Rip burning a car in one of the trailers for Yellowstone season 5, part 2, suggests otherwise.