Throughout much of his character arc on “Yellowstone,” ranch hand Jimmy Hurdstram (Jefferson White) is a tragic figure. While he frequently demonstrates himself to be kind and good-hearted, he ends up in trouble on a semi-regular basis, echoing his difficult upbringing.
Jimmy begins to approach what could be considered his rock bottom when, in Season 3, Episode 3, he suffers a serious injury in a rodeo accident. John Dutton (Kevin Costner) offers to pay his hospital bill, but only if he promises to retire from rodeo competition. However, his new girlfriend Mia (Eden Brolin) isn’t happy with this ultimatum, inspiring Jimmy to break his word and practice for a rodeo return. During one of these practice sessions, he suffers an arguably even more serious injury, putting his life in jeopardy, as seen in the Season 3 finale.
“Yellowstone” confirms Jimmy’s survival in the premiere episode of Season 4 when John awakens from a coma in a hospital and encounters Jimmy undergoing physical therapy on his way out. That said, while he may be intact, his decision to return to rodeo riding in spite of his promise to John has major repercussions for his character moving forward.
After surviving his second accident, Jimmy moves to Texas
To make up for the fact that he defied John Dutton’s explicit directive, Jimmy ends up moving to Texas to work at the 6666 Ranch. The Four Sixes Ranch that serves as this location in “Yellowstone,” in fact, is a real-life ranch of note in the cowboy world. Showrunner Taylor Sheridan even purchased the ranch after its “Yellowstone” debut.
As fans keeping up with goings-on behind the scenes of the “Yellowstone” franchise are well aware, it will also serve as the setting of a planned spin-off titled “6666.” Ahead of this project, the Four Sixes ranch still factors periodically into the mainline “Yellowstone” series. While this keeps Jimmy in the mix, his overall screentime has dropped as a result of his move. In the first half of Season 5, for example, Jefferson White only appears in a single episode.
Fortunately, things are looking up for Jimmy now that he’s recovered from his life-threatening accident in his new Texas home. In an episode of an official behind-the-scenes YouTube series called “Stories from the Bunkhouse,” White shared that he thinks his character has a life of contentment ahead of him. “I think he had four seasons of bad stuff,” White said. “And from here on in it’s just smooth sailing.”