Beth and Rip’s Yellowstone story continuing in their own spinoff could prove bad news for the couple. Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser’s Beth and Rip characters are a staple of the Yellowstone cast, emerging as the leads of the neo-Western after Kevin Costner’s Yellowstone exit. Since day one, Beth and Rip have been with us, fighting alongside John Dutton as his most loyal stewards. After John Dutton’s death, just days before the Yellowstone season 5 finale, a report prematurely confirmed that Beth and Rip’s story would continue, with Reilly and Hauser leading an offshoot of the flagship.
The ending of Yellowstone season 5 allowed Beth and Rip to move on from protecting John Dutton’s legacy when Kayce sold the family’s heirloom ranch to the Broken Rock Tribe. With the Duttons fulfilling a forgotten promise, Kayce and Beth stepped away from their family’s seven-generation homestead and moved on, respectively. Kayce settled at East Camp with Tate and Monica near the reservation, and Beth and Rip also started a new beginning that included their adopted son, Carter. Now that the lovebirds’ story will continue outside the flagship, there’s one thing we know for sure about what’s next for them.
Yellowstone Ended With Beth & Rip’s Happy Ending
Beth And Rip Settle Near Dillon, Montana
In Yellowstone season 5, episode 14, Beth tells her husband that she bought a ranch in Dillon, Montana. Beth notes that the little house and big barn are why she chose the homestead, noting its irrigated hay meadows where Rip can earn a living managing about 600 pairs of cattle. The end of the episode shows Beth and Rip moving onto their new ranch satisfyingly, with Beth looking out across its thousands of acres into the mountains. If Beth and Rip’s story ended with the Yellowstone season 5 finale, their lives would forever be frozen at that moment in time.
Therefore, if Yellowstone ended with that scene of Beth, Rip, and Carter, it would preserve the family’s happily hard-earned ever after. While Rip notes that the ranch, located 40 miles west of Dillon, won’t be very active, Beth notes that the property’s isolation aligns with her desire to live without tourists wandering in and out of her life. Lloyd notes that the area Beth chose for their homestead experiences brutal winters and bug-infested summers, but perhaps we could imagine that Beth will get an expensive fur coat and somehow outsmart the bugs like she’s outsmarted everyone else.
Their Yellowstone Spinoff Will Inevitably Introduce Conflict Between Beth & Rip
Every Yellowstone Story Needs Conflict
Beth and Rip’s story continuation will inevitably disrupt the family’s happy ending, considering they will need to experience some form of conflict to tell a compelling story. The continuation of the characters means that Beth and Rip will face new hardships, which will likely extend beyond the harsh winters and frustrating summers they endure. While the new Dutton-Wheeler ranch pales compared to the Yellowstone, which comprises hundreds of thousands of acres, Beth and Rip maintaining seven thousand acres of private land and twenty thousand acres of BLM land will come with corresponding hurdles.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Yellowstone executive producer Christina Voros confirmed that Beth and Rip’s story could be bad news for the couple, saying:
I think he has left the door wide open for any number of stories to come out of that romance, and because people are in love with them, I think an audience would be interested in seeing whatever story that would become. Because ultimately, when you have interesting, complicated characters, especially those with dark secrets, something interesting is going to happen. And I think what he has done with the way he ends the show, it could be the end of the fairytale or it could be the beginning of another tragedy. You just don’t know.
Voros’ comments imply that Beth and Rip’s complex backgrounds may complicate the simplicity of their future, suggesting that happily ever after is a simplified notion for characters like Beth and Rip. Voros directly implied that Beth and Rip’s Yellowstone story could be the beginning of another Dutton tragedy. Her take on the couple’s Yellowstone fate is that Yellowstone screenwriter Taylor Sheridan set up Beth and Rip’s conclusion so that their story could go in either direction, equally inclined to evolve into a fairy tale as it is to end in disaster.
Can Beth & Rip’s Marriage Survive Their Yellowstone Spinoff
Beth And Rip Are In Uncharted Territory
There’s no doubt that the couple share a deep love for one another, but Voros’ comments insinuate Beth and Rip’s spinoff story could test their marriage. It’s worth considering that Beth and Rip have always existed on the ranch with a common enemy, fighting for the fate of the Dutton legacy side-by-side. Without a common enemy to attack, one has to wonder where Beth and Rip will channel the chaotic energy that embroils their experience, especially since the Yellowstone season 5 finale suggested the land in Dillon, Montana, wouldn’t be kind to the couple, adding stress to their situation.
It’s difficult to imagine an ending to Beth and Rip’s story in which the couple separates voluntarily, especially considering Sheridan’s history of penning indelible power couples for Yellowstone.
Voros noted “dark secrets” in her comments, which could hint at Beth keeping Rip in the dark about aborting their pregnancy when they were adolescents. Rip knows that Beth is infertile, but the couple has yet to process the trauma of why that happened together. Still, while new experiences could drive a wedge between them, it’s difficult to imagine an ending to Beth and Rip’s story in which the couple separates voluntarily, especially considering Sheridan’s history of penning indelible power couples for Yellowstone. That said, Voros’ comments suggest tragedy could follow the couple regardless.
