Forget Kevin Costner’s John Dutton, What Happens To Beth & Rip Is Yellowstone Season 5’s Key Story

Although Kevin Costner’s departure from Yellowstone has taken the spotlight recently, what happens to Beth and Rip, John Dutton’s daughter and ranch hand respectively, is season 5’s most crucial story. Taylor Sheridan’s beyond-popular modern-day Western, which centers on a Montana ranching family, is set to end with Costner’s exit from the show. While Costner’s patriarch is a key figure, the now-married couple are the real heart of Yellowstone. Between Beth’s unfiltered approach to all things and Rip’s unwavering loyalty to the Duttons, the two make for a great TV.

Despite the Yellowstone season 5, part 2 filming delay, the series’ final outing has plenty of compelling plot points in the works where Beth and Rip are concerned. In the season 5 premiere, John Dutton is sworn in as Governor of Montana and, later, appoints Beth as his chief of staff. Throughout the season, John’s only daughter gets into multiple brawls, tries to find an alternative to ranching, and learns a dark Dutton secret from her brother. Rip, meanwhile, has a brush with law enforcement over missing wolves and reflects on his promise to John. With tensions rising, part 2 will be one to remember.

Beth & Rip Have Become Yellowstone’s Best Characters & Key Story

Even with John staring down a potential impeachment, a deadly disease sweeping across Montana and endangering the cattle, and tons of outside forces looking to thwart the Duttons’ success, Beth and Rip are Yellowstone‘s best and most interesting characters. As with its predecessors, season 5 centers on the Dutton family legacy, all while ramping up the battle for Yellowstone’s ownership. In reflecting on season 5, Kelly Reilly, who plays Beth, notes, “The war feels internal this year for her. [She’s] haunted by the past, afraid for the future, and fighting with all she has for the present moment

For Reilly, this doesn’t spell trouble for Beth and Rip as a couple as their enduring devotion to each other has weathered plenty before. However, it’s clear that Beth’s long-standing feud with her brother, Jamie, will come to a head in Yellowstone‘s final batch of episodes. With the siblings poised to kill each other, Beth’s secret sets up a major Yellowstone season 5 feud between Rip and Jamie, the cause of Beth’s traumatic infertility. Aside from the brewing drama outside their marriage, Beth and Rip reconnect in season 5, episode 6, “Cigarettes, Whiskey, a Meadow and You,” which teases one potential outcome for the couple’s future.