Yellowstone’s Family Drama Has Completely Erased This Character

Yellowstone Season 4 introduced Carter, who was seemingly set up to become Beth and Rip’s adopted son – and then Season 5 forgot all about him.

In Yellowstone Season 4, Episode 1 “Half the Money,” Beth Dutton met Carter — a 14-year-old boy played by Finn Little — at the hospital. The pair quickly formed a bond. Carter’s neglectful father was dying and Beth offered him comfort. In return, Carter brought out Beth’s sensitive side, which the recently canceled Paramount Network drama rarely shows. This special dynamic between Carter and Beth led to several heartwarming scenes.

Carter later told the police that Beth was responsible for him, and he was taken to the Dutton ranch. Beth gave in and accepted the responsibility, and Beth’s husband, Rip Wheeler, begrudgingly gave Carter a job at the ranch. Beth liked to point out, to Rip’s annoyance, that Carter reminded her of somebody. That somebody was in fact, Rip himself, who landed at the Dutton Ranch at about the same age as Carter did.

Updated on April 11, 2024 by David Giatras: As Yellowstone gears up for the second half of its fifth and final season, many viewers wonder why Carter has not had a bigger role since joining the show in season 4. While his storyline certainly took a back seat in season 5, there is hope for his character to continue to grow given how Yellowstone’s future is playing out on the Paramount Network. Carter could have a pivotal role to play in the Yellowstone franchise in its sprawling future.

How Carter Could Have Been Beth And Rip’s Surrogate Son

With Beth being unable to have children and Carter recently orphaned, Yellowstone seemed to suggest that the young man was a surrogate son for the show’s main couple. Beth even told Rip, “I think he’s our kid,” when she first brought Carter back to the ranch. Carter becoming part of Beth and Rip’s family would bring joy to both their lives — and it would be particularly meaningful to Beth, given the anger she expressed at not being able to have kids. Beth’s inability to have children of her own is a major storyline in Yellowstone, and it can be argued that is how she ended up with the rough and tough exterior she has in the present day. So when Carter came along, the void Beth had yearned for seemed to be right in front of her.

“He’s not our son. No matter who he becomes, he never will be. Nobody will.”

But despite Beth’s comment to Rip, they have both resisted becoming Carter’s parental figures. In Yellowstone Season 4, Episode 3, “All I See Is You,” Rip tells Beth “He’s not our son. No matter who he becomes, he never will be. Nobody will.” With Rip being nearly against the idea of Carter at the ranch entirely, he makes life very hard for him. To Rip and Beth’s surprise, Carter does not break from the tough love he receives.

Throughout season 4, he becomes more and more comfortable with them. However, when Carter tested out calling Beth “Mama” in Season 4, Episode 10, “Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops,” she heatedly responded, “I’m nobody’s mother, ever.” Beth’s emotional baggage is unsurprising considering parental strife is a common theme in Yellowstone, yet it begs the question of why the show introduced Carter into her life if he wasn’t intended to become part of her story. Whether Beth resists the idea or not, Carter is the best chance she will ever have of having her own child, as unfortunate as the situation is.

Yellowstone Erasing Carter Is Counterintuitive

Yellowstone’s still-to-be-finished Season 5 has not only abandoned Carter’s potential bond with Beth and Rip — it has abandoned Carter entirely. He has been relegated to a background character and has not been given a single scene of emotional substance yet, let alone one with Beth or Rip. Yellowstone threw a random love interest at Carter in Season 5, Episode 6 “Cigarettes, Whiskey, a Meadow and You,” but even that has only been for a couple of uneventful scenes. The series doesn’t seem to have any idea what to do with him. As a result, he has often been relegated to the background along with the rest of the ranchers at the Dutton Ranch. In one episode, Carter will have a small character moment and then in the next, he barely has any dialogue.

Considering that Yellowstone’s biggest theme is family, it is extremely counterintuitive for the show to go so far backward with his character. While Carter may not be an official member of the Dutton family, he was on his way to becoming one. In addition to his dynamic with Beth, he’d formed a bond with John Dutton, too. And even if the series chooses to disregard the whole extended family idea that it set up in Season 4, it’s ignoring that he could be an asset to the Duttons.

John Dutton had previously expressed concern over his grandson Tate’s ability to run the ranch in the future. Carter becoming a larger part of the ranch — whether he’s formally or informally adopted by Beth and Rip — would give Yellowstone a character who could help Tate and solve that problem. However, now that audiences know the series is ending with Season 5, time is running out to give Carter the development that he’s been lacking after such a promising start. However, there may be more on the horizon for Carter, depending on the direction the Yellowstone franchise takes.

How Carter Still Has A Future In The Yellowstone Franchise

A major surprise to many viewers came in February 2023 when it was announced that Yellowstone would end with season 5, albeit in two parts. The primary reason for the show’s ending is a dispute between the show and its star, Kevin Costner. Costner, who allegedly has asked for a shorter shooting schedule while making his own Western film epic, Horizon: An American Saga, recently stated that he is open to returning for the series’ final installments but nothing is official yet. If Costner does not return to Yellowstone, which would be a shame for the show as a whole, it does open up the door for some minor characters such as Carter to receive a more prominent role on the show. Although Carter’s best bet at continuing his story on a bigger stage would be in the form of the next spin-off of Yellowstone: 2024.

In the same announcement that Yellowstone would be ending with season 5, another spin-off, 2024, was announced. 2024 will serve as a continuation of the flagship series and will supposedly star Matthew McConaughey in the lead role, although this has yet to be confirmed. It is also rumored that characters from Yellowstone will appear on the new show, but this will likely not be clear until Yellowstone wraps its run. If 2024 still revolves around the Dutton Ranch without John at the helm, this would be the perfect opportunity for Carter to get a bigger role within the franchise.

Carter can transition from a background character to a central character in the ensemble alongside McConaughy, and it would also make the addition of the character to Yellowstone pay off in the long run. Carter’s story can easily be a story of growing into his role on the ranch with his impending adulthood, which could also double as a pseudo-Rip storyline that viewers never got to see in Yellowstone’s flashbacks. Another option, although less likely, would be for Carter to move onto a different spin-off, 6666, which follows the Texas ranch that fellow rancher Jimmy was sent to in season 4. Until viewers get more details on how the franchise will proceed, Carter’s story will remain in limbo, but there is certainly potential for the character in the future.

Yellowstone airs on Paramount Network, with the second half of season 5 returning in November 2024.