Whatever Happened To Avery Actress Tanaya Beatty From Yellowstone?

Many characters have come and gone from "Yellowstone." The series announced itself as a show unafraid to write off even key characters by immediately killing off Lee Dutton, son of Kevin Costner's John Dutton III, who met his fate at the end of the pilot episode of "Yellowstone." Other characters have faded in and out of the series as it has gone on. Taylor Sheridan cast himself as horse trainer Travis Wheatley, who initially showed up in season 1 for an episode, then a handful of episodes in season 2, before being absent altogether from season 3. The character then cropped up in a recurring capacity in season 4, but was once again missing from season 5A.

Similarly, Canadian actress Tanaya Beatty played the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch horse groomer Avery in season 1. When she's first introduced, Avery is recruited by Cole Hauser's Rip Wheeler from a strip club and has to justify her presence at the ranch's male-only bunkhouse. It set up a storyline with a lot of potential but Avery then only appeared in four episodes of season 2 before disappearing. She then returned in season 4, when it was revealed that she'd been staying with her family on the Broken Rock Reservation. Later, we learned that Avery actually had feelings for Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes), who is married to Monica (Kelsey Asbille). Rather than cause issues for the couple, Avery left the Dutton Yellowstone ranch behind, last appearing in Kayce's vision in episode 10 of season 4, "Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops."

While questions about Avery's absence have been answered in the show, it remains unclear what prompted Beatty herself to leave one of the most popular shows on TV, and whether she will return for the upcoming season 5B. Thankfully, the actress seems to have been busy since.

Don't let Tanaya Beatty's sudden exit from "Yellowstone" fool you into thinking the actress made some sort of hasty retreat from Hollywood, à la Helen Hunt. In fact, it seems that after appearing in numerous TV series from 2012 to 2022, Beatty began looking for more movie roles, as her filmography shows.

In 2022, the same year Avery last appeared in "Yellowstone," the Vancouver, British Columbia-born actress played the role of Gretchen in the Thandiwe Newton-led "God's Country." She also appeared in David Cronenberg's darkly funny body horror "Crimes of the Future," and interestingly enough, a western film called "Murder at Yellowstone City." While 2023 was relatively quiet for Beatty, 2024 saw Beatty appear in the Canadian drama "The Birds Who Fear Death," and she is set to play a role in "WALL-E" director Andrew Stanton's upcoming sci-fi drama "In the Blink of an Eye," which also stars Rashida Jones and "SNL" alum Kate McKinnon. The film is set for release on Hulu sometime in the future, though an exact release date is yet to be confirmed.

In terms of Beatty's "Yellowstone" tenure, season 5B of the hit series will finally debut on November 10, 2024, and while most fans are waiting to see just how series creator Taylor Sheridan wraps up the show without star Kevin Costner onboard, a fair few will surely be wondering if Avery shows up for one final appearance.