Yellowstone’s Kelly Reilly is Still Holding Out Hope for Beth in Season Four
In summer of 2020, when Yellowstone’s third season came to a close, Kelly Reilly was in a precarious position. She had been, presumably, blown to smithereens. A box left in her office explodes, windows burst out, and there’s no Beth Dutton to be found. To get to the point, things weren’t looking particularly favorable for Montana’s favorite foul-mouthed businesswoman. Viewers thought they’d have an answer by now as to if Beth survives, but alas, the premiere date has been pushed back to November. Season Four of the show has already wrapped—shot entirely in a quarantine bubble. But that means there are zero leaks from the set to reveal if Beth is alive or dead.
With the next season set to premiere in a few months, fans have a long time to wait to learn about Beth’s fate. But, in the meantime, new fans can join the club, and old fans can re-watch, now that Yellowstone will be streaming exclusively on Peacock. In recent years, when shows jump from traditional cable networks to streaming services, they often double down on their popularity. When Schitt’s Creek landed on Netflix, new fans had time to devour three full seasons before tuning in for the fourth. Now new Yellowstone fans can do the same, and with Yellowstone boasting its position as cable’s highest rated summer series, that means Season Four has the potential to eclipse the records already set by the Taylor Sheridan series.
With a few more months of hiatus ahead, Kelly Reilly hopped on the phone with Esquire to discuss Beth’s explosive third season, the important stories woven into Yellowstone, and just how long she knew about Beth’s big Season Three reveal.
This interview has been edited for clarity. This interview also contains spoilers for Yellowstone season three.
ESQ: So often in Westerns, we have good guys and bad guys that we want to root for, but Yellowstone really subverts that. Do you think that there could be a happy ending for these people? Or are they just kind of doomed to this grim fate?
Kelly Reilly: Gosh, that’s a good question. I think it’s one that I ask Taylor [Sheridan] constantly, “Where’s the end?” As an actor, especially one that’s been put through hell and back with a character like Beth, I was like, “What’s the end game?” And there’s a big cliffhanger obviously at the end of season three. Obviously I can’t tell you whether or not Beth makes it another day, to see if she finds that peace that you talk about. But it’s an interesting question with any character. Is happiness something that is an ultimate end goal? Or is it something that kind of… there are moments of it in all our lives and days and… it doesn’t last. It’s like you touch it and you don’t try and hold on to it. I think there’s a great William Blake quote about that.
I see those moments of happiness for Beth, especially in Season Three. At the beginning of Season Three, there is a sort of quiet, healing vibe going on. Beth and Rip (Cole Hauser) are living in the new house that they’ve been given, that John Dutton (Kevin Costner) gave to Rip. Beth has moved in and there’s a little bit of domestic quiet, gentleness that’s sort of creeping in which we’ve never seen Beth inhabit. I found those scenes really interesting to play. Whether it lasts or not, it wouldn’t be a drama if it was constant. I don’t think that we’re at the happy ending stage yet, but I think there’s a glimmer of happiness and where that happiness and where that peace could live, you know what I mean?
