‘Yellowstone’ Season 5: Forrie J. Smith on How Everything Is About to Change for Rip & Lloyd

Up to this point in Yellowstone, two characters have shared an incredibly strong bond, the pair rarely seen apart while working the ranch. And that’s despite a significant difference in age. For the last five seasons, we’ve watched the brotherly relationship between Cole Hauser’s Rip Wheeler and Forrie J. Smith’s Lloyd Pierce grow and thrive. Now though, as Yellowstone fans dig deeper into season 5, Forrie J. Smith says things are about to change for his character and Hauser’s in a major way.

The threat of brucellosis might be one of the biggest the ranch has ever faced. The cast breaks down “The Dream Is Not Me.” #YellowstoneTV pic.twitter.com/r8KuTG40Mr

— Yellowstone (@Yellowstone) December 19, 2022

In the seventh episode of season 5, “The Dream Is Not Me,” Yellowstone fans learned that a catastrophic disease, which originated in Yellowstone National Park’s bison, has potentially infected John Dutton’s herd. Called brucellosis, the bacterial disease results in abortion, infertility, and sterility in cows. In an effort to protect his herd and profit, John decides half the herd will head to a region of the country without snow. This allows him to keep the herd fed with loads of grass without additional sustenance while simultaneously protecting them from infected bison.

With half the herd leaving the Yellowstone, so too is Cole Hauser’s Rip. We’ll also bid goodbye to several other ranch hands as Rip’s charged with keeping a close eye on John’s livestock. With Rip predicting he’ll be gone for the better part of a year at least, Forrie J. Smith says that that distance and that responsibility between the two characters is about to change in a major way.

How Rip and Lloyd’s Friendship Will Change in Future Episodes of ‘Yellowstone’ Season 5:

Thinking about Rip’s departure, not to mention that of ranch hands Teeter, Ryan, Jake, and Walker, Forrie J. Smith said in one of Yellowstone’s ‘Behind the Story‘, “There’s a lot of anxiety going with that, not just John, [but] all of us.”

Of their characters, he continued, “I don’t know that me and Rip have ever been apart since he came to the ranch that long.”

It will be interesting to see the effect Rip’s departure has on he and Lloyd’s relationship. This marks a major turning point especially as we recall the end of last season. Fans truly saw the characters’ friendship put to the test. Lloyd briefly became a man that we didn’t know he could become. Eventually, his feud with Ryan Bingham’s Walker came to a bloody hear.

Still, despite all the conflict, Lloyd put his issues with Walker behind him. He repaired their professional relationship, and further solidified his brotherhood with Rip.

Further, the upcoming split, which will send half of the ranch down south and leave the Dutton ranch half-staffed, will be a unique experience for fans. To this point, we’ve never seen Rip any further away from the ranch than the bar. Truthfully, we can’t even be certain he’s strayed that far from the ranch since arriving there as a teen. As such, not only will this problem cast a new light on Rip and Lloyd’s friendship, but we’ll perhaps get to see Rip struggle with new problems as he faces an unknown environment.