This hit series has been on a break since January of 2023, so fans are certainly looking forward to having it back on their TV screens, myself included… it’s felt like forever, especially considering all of the drama that’s ensued in the meantime.
Of course, it will be a little bit different without the return of Dutton Ranch patriarch and superstar Kevin Costner, who plays John Dutton, but plenty of other familiar faces will return including Jamie Dutton, Rip Wheeler, Beth Dutton, Kayce Dutton and of course, all of the bunkhouse guys.
And fan-favorite bunkhouse cowboy Ryan, who is played by Ian Bohen, stopped by CBS Mornings today, to talk about Part 2 of Season 5 and what fans can expect. He called it the greatest finale ever, so I have high hopes that creator Taylor Sheridan was able to piece together something fans will love.
Ian also said that they didn’t get the full scripts for the show, and parts of it were redacted so they had to piece it together on their own and ask questions about what happened with the big finale:
“For this season it was, they were very close to the vest and they just wanted to preserve the integrity. We have our scripts, but we didn’t necessarily have all of it.
Their were pieces that were not there, so you kinda had to put them, you know, connect the dots of your own accord and then you would ask questions they would tell you things, but they were very secretive with the material.”
In terms of his onscreen romance with Abby, played by country music’s own Miss Lainey Wilson, he recalled getting a phone call from Taylor Sheridan telling him he’d found him a girlfriend before they started filming Season 5… which he thought was a real life girlfriend at first…
Sheridan told him about Lainey, and Ian instantly fell in love with her music and they’ve remained close friends:
“She’s fantastic. So Taylor called me in [the] early days and he said, ‘Hey I’ve got a girlfriend for you.’ And I said ‘Oh my, thank God, this is gonna be great. Tell me all about her.’ [He said] ‘On the show.’ ‘I was like, alright man, well, the search continues.’
I say, ‘Well tell me about her.’ He says, ‘She’s a country western superstar, and her name is Lainey Wilson.’ And I said, ‘I love it.’ I had heard the name, I hadn’t heard her music. So then I started listening to her albums, she is phenomenally talented.
We met, she came on board, she was incredibly eager. She listened, she was enthusiastic and we just hit it off immediately and are great friends to this day. We’re so lucky to have her.”
Of course, the hosts asked what we’ve all been wondering, which is whether or not we’ll see them together this season, because Ryan had left for Texas at the end of the last episode we saw.
He played it coy, but said viewers will get to watch him “choose his path,” which I’m assuming means a life with Abby or not:
“So part of the drama that makes the show so successful is there are obstacles for the characters that they have to choose a path. And we see at the end of season 5A that he has left this love, and he’s gone on in pursuit of his own sort of hero journey.
And he will have an opportunity to revisit that choice, and you’re gonna have to wait and see, but it will be presented to him what the rest of his life is going to look like. You’re gonna watch him choose his path, that’s as much as I can say about it. So please tune in, but all your questions will be answered.”
I loved watching them together onscreen and they obviously make a great (fictional) couple, so I obviously hope we’ll get to see a fairytale ending and watch them quite literally ride off in to the sunset together.
Bohen also said he hopes to join a new show next year that’s already running called Lioness, so it seems like we’ll get to see him stay in the Sheridan universe at least for a little while longer.
Part 2 of Season 5 of Yellowstone airs this Sunday at 8PM on CBS and Paramount network.
Here’s the full interview: