Howdy, Yellowstone fans, it’s the start of the work week, and we’re all wishing we were spending our time with the Duttons and the cowboys at the ranch instead. Taylor Sheridan’s well-crafted realm for these characters we know and love has us dreaming of becoming the Beth and Kayces of the world. Well, less extreme versions of them, at least. One character familiar with the word “intense” this season is Jamie Dutton himself. Wes Bentley is giving fans insight into getting into that frame of mind for the explosive season we’ve been tuning into. Alongside the intensity, fans have also loved seeing more of a young John Dutton this season, and Josh Lucas is opening up about playing the character and what he’d love to see in the future. You know the drill from here: grab your Yellowstone-loving bestie because we’re riding in.
Wes Bentley says that Jamie Dutton doesn’t see himself growing grey
Jamie Dutton might be planning the upheaval of a century, but fans are getting insight into the idea that he might not believe he will be around to see what comes next. That’s right, Wes Bentley is opening up about where Jamie’s head is this season — and it’s an interesting piece of the puzzle considering his actions as of late.
We’ve seen Jamie act with desperation unlike anything we’ve known him to experience this season, and Bentley’s commentary on the situation at hand is one of those things that makes it all make sense. He doesn’t see himself living long enough for the endgame to really affect him, but there is someone else he’s worried about — his son.
Deadline reveals that Bentley spoke about Jamie at a recent panel and says he sees himself as a dead man walking.
“I don’t think he’s playing a game here. He does want to see something left for his son. I think he has seen himself [dead] from before the beginning of the season. He’s already end-gamed what is happening to him. He knows what’s coming and he’s trying to get what he can out of it by making some moves and taking opportunities.”
Taking opportunities almost feels like an understatement for what’s really going on as Jamie grows closer with Sarah Atwood and wages war on the only family he’s ever known: for good or bad. Bentley went on to say that Jamie has essential questions he wants to be answered.
“Is he just holding onto power or is he actually trying to do something with the land? I think Jamie has valid questions about a lot of things and that’s what’s complicated about him. He has a good argument. He doesn’t go about it the right way necessarily, or I guess in ways people hate, but it’s his way and it’s who he is.”
“Who he is,” is someone people hate with an ease that is a true testament to who Bentley is as an actor because, for each fan that hates him, someone else is holding a candle for Jamie — although even his most diehard fans can admit the flame is flickering.
Josh Lucas says he’d be game for a young John Dutton spin-off
Josh Lucas is a young John Dutton in Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone, and he brings such a dynamic version of the character to life. Fans can’t get enough of the flashback scenes with Lucas as John; we’re not the only ones.
In a recent chat with The Wrap, Lucas sang the series’ praises, saying he became obsessed with it when he watched it after learning he was coming back for season five — and we all know how that feels.
There’s a quality to the series that makes it hard to turn away from; you want to know what’s going to happen next at the same time that you want to discover more of what happened before. Lucas helps bridge that gap in flashbacks as a young John.
Lucas says he’d love to play in a spin-off centered around a young John Dutton, and we’d all love to see it. The way he breathes life into a different version of our favorite family patriarch is lovely; it’s a fresh look into a character we already feel strongly about.
“I mean, look, I would obviously do it in a second. And part of it is that it’s not just because I would do it for myself. It’s partly because I would watch that show, not just because of me in any way, but because I am fascinated as much as I think many of the people who start to fall in love with the Yellowstone universe are, by who these characters are as they evolve, as you see them shifting.”
The shift in the characters is something fans love to see and another selling point that keeps us coming back for more. It’s not a situation where these people are all good or all bad; they’re fluid and ever-evolving.
Lucas also brings up an essential line from 1883 that fans have dissected since it was spoken into existence.
“And as you see their evolution over seven generations. Look, I don’t know what’s going to happen to Yellowstone, meaning I don’t know what’s going to happen to John Dutton, and only Kevin knows. But there’s a hint in 1883 If you go back and watch where one of the Indians says to Tim McGraw’s character, ‘We will come back in seven generations and take this from you.’ I wonder if that’s where it’s going to go. I don’t know. I’m as fascinated by it as you are. I would love to see, you know, ‘1993.’ I would love to see ‘1972.’ I’ll say that, as a fan of the show, as much as somebody who’s deeply, deeply grateful to be a part of it, and frankly, feels a pretty intense responsibility to, I guess, portray Kevin’s and Taylor’s ideas of who this character is.”
As we said above, we’d watch a hypothetical 1972 any day; there’s a lot of John’s story that can still be unveiled, things that may allow fans who see him in a less-than-stellar light to understand him a bit more. It would also provide those of us who love John to see the things in this life that have shaped him in ways that are great and ways that hurt.
Plus, who doesn’t want to see more Josh Lucas on our screens?