Yellowstone: Every Main Character Ending, Ranked

Easily one of the most popular television shows of the late-2010s and early-2020s, "Yellowstone" left a distinct but messy mark when it ended. The western series created by Taylor Sheridan tracked the lives and machinations of the Duttons, a Ewing-esque family of powerful businesspeople and politicians who preside over the titular palatial ranch and spacious plot of land it resides on in Montana.

The series galloped along smoothly for four and a half seasons (spawning several spin-offs in the process), until star Kevin Costner suddenly left the show before production could begin on the second half of season 5. His character had to be written off as a result, and the series as a whole began speeding toward an explosive, confusing end for its ensemble of characters. Now that the dust is settled, we've taken a gander at the fate of each main "Yellowstone" character, ranking them by how satisfying the endings were as well as how much they impacted the overall story.

Despite being a last-minute addition to the "Yellowstone" universe, ranch hand Walker (played by musician Ryan Bingham) quickly became one of the show's strongest characters — which makes the underwhelming resolution of his storyline kind of disappointing. The ex-con carried so much pain with him, it was hard for fans not to spend the majority of his screen time watching with bated breath, hoping that he would escape the abusive ranch alive to find some happiness in the real world through his music.

By the time the series ends, Walker is freed along with the rest of the ranchers and is last seen reuniting with his girlfriend. Maybe he'll return in the spin-off series based on the Four Sixes Ranch, but there's really nothing memorable to say about his ending.

When we say every "Yellowstone" main character, we mean it — which means we can't forget about original big bad Dan Jenkins (Danny Huston), who was part of the show's original main ensemble. Dan was a real estate developer who was part of several schemes to steal the Dutton land, not least of which involved him putting a hit out on John Dutton (Kevin Costner) in the pilot.

Poetically, Dan was soon dispatched by hitmen himself, perhaps proving how out of his depth he truly was — a pretender, not unlike the Duttons' ultimate adversary. His fate gets points for its spectacle and for capping off one of the best seasons of a "Yellowstone" series ever produced. That said, it's not incredibly impactful in the grand scheme of things, and given that it happened so long ago, other character endings are more meaningful now.

This might be our most controversial placing on this list. For some, the way "Yellowstone" chose to wrap up the storyline of Denim Richards' Colby Mayfield was perfectly tragic, and dramatically worthy given what it added to the stories of other characters — for us, it just felt like a tragic waste.

Four episodes into season 5, Colby is killed by a horse. No manipulations from outside forces, no heroic sacrifices, just a good character in the wrong place at the wrong time falling victim to a freak accident. As much as it annoys us, we'll give Taylor Sheridan and the "Yellowstone" credit for trying to depict the harsh realities of cowboy life. The tension between human will and the forces of nature has always been a core theme of "Yellowstone," which makes Colby's death a (somewhat) justifiable way to send one of the cowboys off.

In stark contrast to Colby, if any of the cowboys get a win at the end of "Yellowstone" it's Ian Bohen's Ryan. With the Yellowstone Ranch closed for good, Ryan and the rest of the branded staff were set free, and while many of them returned to similar work, Ryan chose a new career path — one that allowed him to follow his heart.

Like Walker, Ryan reunited with his girlfriend Abby (Lainey Wilson) — who is now touring the country as a musician. He chooses to leave the dangerous life of cattle-roping behind him and becomes a stagehand on her tour, which is objectively the most aspirational resolution for anyone who began the show as the branded indentured servant of an organized crime family like the Duttons (even if it lacks the dramatic weight of entries a bit further down).

Though "Yellowstone" was always fairly cynical about politicians, broadly painting them as easily corruptible pencil-pushers who lack the proper knowledge of and respect for the wild lands they can influence, Lynelle Perry (Wendy Moniz) always seemed to get the benefit of the doubt from the series. Though her relationship with John Dutton did personally compromise her throughout, she mostly seemed to work on the side of the angels — and, most importantly, she genuinely cared for John.

It's only just, then, that she be invited to John's funeral during season 5. Beth (Kelly Reilly) and her siblings are adamant about keeping the ceremony small and private, but even so, they ensure Perry is able to attend. She also seemingly senses the conspiratorial air surrounding John's demise and gets to wield power one last time by throwing a wrench into the plans to build an airport on the Duttons' land.

Of all the ranch hands on "Yellowstone," Jefferson White's Jimmy Hurdstrom had the strongest character arc. Once a constant screw-up and all-around burden on the ranch, he turns himself into a reliable adult who actually outgrows his peers on the Yellowstone ranch. If his story had ended with him riding off into the sunset to the largely unknown 6666 ranches as he did in season 4, he would be ranked much higher on this list.

Rather than leave him out there until he returns for the spin-off, however, Taylor Sheridan apparently liked Jimmy so much that he brought the character back for season 5 just to bully him personally. We won't waste time echoing the broad dislike of Sheridan's cringe-inducing Travis Wheatley, nor are we gonna knock points off for Jimmy just because the two are linked. That said, being the butt of Travis' dumb jokes feels like a step back for a character that arguably had the most complete character arc on the show outside the Duttons themselves.

It's hard to choose which cowhand is more mistreated by "Yellowstone" season 5 — Jimmy, or Jen Landon's Teeter. Unfortunately, losing your romantic interest is probably a better outcome if the alternative is playing straight man to Taylor Sheridan.

Indeed, Teeter's final major plot point revolves around her recovering from Colby's sudden death. Her reaction to the news is extremely powerful, and while her raw anger at his lack of suffering could be taken two different ways (either as a reflection of the toxic lifestyle of the ranch or, more likely, a subtle continuation of season 5's bizarrely judgmental characterization of death and suicide), Landon sells the moment perfectly.

Teeter and Colby were one of the show's best couples, and we're at the very least grateful their tragic end was given due emotional weight. It also makes narrative sense that she would journey on to Four Sixes — though that probably means she'll get the bad end of Jimmy's deal as well.

Monica Long-Dutton (Kelsey Asbille) has been one of the most tortured characters on "Yellowstone" since its first season. Given this fact, and how important she should be, not just as Kayce Dutton's (Luke Grimes) wife but as one of the few Indigenous characters with direct influence on the story, we would have liked to see her shine in season 5. Sadly, it has little to offer Monica besides more suffering.

The final moment between her and John Dutton in the first half of the season is certainly one of if not the best scenes the two characters have ever shared. Here, John shows her a surprising amount of respect by asking her permission to offer Kayce the ranch. The ultimate resolution of Kayce's stewardship of the ranch, which results in their family's freedom from the Dutton legacy, is a decent enough endpoint for her character. But both of these resolutions have more to do with John and Kayce's internal destinations than hers alone.

As the undisputed anchor of "Yellowstone," John Dutton deserved more than getting Logan Roy-ed before the season 5B premiere. Of course, as most fans may know, Kevin Costner wasn't originally meant to depart so soon, but due to a combination of factors (rumored tension between him and Taylor Sheridan, messy contract negotiations, and scheduling conflicts with the production of his film series "Horizon: An American Saga"), the actor was written out of the show essentially mid-season.

So, how'd the Yellowstone kingpin go out? Killed off-screen by associates of an associate of Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley), the adopted son he'd disowned long ago. Fans were understandably upset by the resolution, and Costner publicly acknowledged the validity of their frustrations. His death nearly breaks the series' final outing, but its impact (including a posthumous moment between Beth and his grave) does enough to make it passable. If handled more naturally, killing Dutton unceremoniously off-screen could have been the perfect ending for a character who couldn't come to terms with his place in a world larger than him.

This is something rather satisfying about John Dutton's most loyal and longest-serving ranch hand getting to exit the series with more dignity and closure. Once the deal between Kayce and the Broken Rock Reservation is struck, the need for all those "employed" by Yellowstone is through, meaning they're all finally free to choose their own destinies. This includes Lloyd Pierce (Forrie J. Smith), the most senior member of the bunkhouse.

Wisely deducing that his advanced years are a rare gift rather than a curse upon his waning physical capabilities (especially seeing what happened to Colby), Lloyd chooses not to chase the young folk down to Travis' Four Sixes Ranch in Texas. Instead, he finally retires, hopefully able to enjoy the rest of his life in relative comfort.

Similar to Monica, Rip Wheeler's (Cole Hauser) ending is tied so closely to that of his partner Beth that separating him from her weakens his arc overall. Unlike Monica, however, Rip does get to play a more active role in the finale.

When he realizes what Beth's final move will be, Rip races to her side just in time to save her from certain death. And when she finally does get her revenge, Rip is right there to help her dispose of the body and craft the cover story — playing the role he always has for the Duttons, except now as someone protecting his family rather than as a mere hired goon. It's a fine end for Rip, though he'll probably get a more dramatic conclusion in the spin-off series featuring him and Beth.

Jamie Dutton was always a character that was so painfully close to being written to his full potential. The adopted Dutton brother was often forced into the position of being the biggest bad of "Yellowstone," a scorned traitor with the unique set of skills to take the Duttons out for good. But because his character was so often robbed of agency, "Yellowstone" simply convincingly sold him as the equally dangerous and compelling villain he could've been.

Though these problems are still very much present in Jamie's final storyline, we will at least give credit where it's due and acknowledge how fitting it was that he was slain in such a manner. It is revealed over the course of the season that Jamie's conspiratorial ally ordered the hit on John Dutton — with Jamie kinda-sorta-but-not-actually giving her the go-ahead. As frustrating as it is for Jamie to be undermined like this despite being the final villain of "Yellowstone," it does keep the show's contemptuous portrait of him consistent right up until the end. It's almost as if the universe (*cough* the writers *cough*) has no respect for a scheming lawyer who has always acted above the ranch and its ways, but in reality, had been reliant on them for longer than he'd realized.

In the end, he's gutted by Beth in an act of brutal vengeance that is layered with symbolism. For Jamie's part specifically, the "gutting" feels intentional. It's something a true Dutton — someone he pretended to be, then pretended to be superior to — would do to an animal. In his last moments, Beth symbolically transforms the power-hungry politician into the pig he is. His body is disposed of, his reputation is posthumously ruined, and his son will grow up without his father. Jamie's life and death are now a quiet echo of his own tragic and apparently uninstructive upbringing.

Though Taylor Sheridan hasn't always handled the storylines of "Yellowstone's" Indigenous characters with as much care as he did the Duttons, much of Thomas Rainwater's (Gil Birmingham) story arc proves not only how pure his intentions were, but how skilled of a screenwriter Sheridan is. It can be difficult to create a compelling overarching antagonist for a series centered around a dark antihero like John Dutton. But rather than merely rely on greater evil story tropes, he gave the Duttons Rainwater, a foe who was genuinely righteous in his aims but corrupted by the Duttons' influence as much as anyone else. Instead of conceding to and benefiting from their power, however, he was forced to use morally corrosive tactics to fight for his people's future.

As such, Rainwater's story comes to a largely sunny end that is, unlike many storylines in the latter half of season 5, actually supported by John's sudden death. With his archenemy gone and the family as a whole weakened, Rainwater is finally in a position to agree to a compromise that satisfies the heart of his aspirations without requiring strategic industrialization of the land. On the contrary, when he purchases the Duttons' land from Kayce, he does so on the terms that he won't build anything on it — meaning the sale cannot financially benefit him as once might have. Birmingham had been told by Sheridan at the start of season 1 that Rainwater would eventually win the land, though he was surprised by the precise way it came about. Like Cole Hauser, Birmingham is ready to continue Rainwater's story whenever – on the condition that Sheridan himself be the one to write it.

Love her, hate her, or love to hate her, Beth Dutton was always given some of the wildest storylines in "Yellowstone." Taylor Sheridan clearly enjoyed writing the vengeful Dutton daughter, whose return to the Ranch following her older brother Lee's death saw her evolve from a cutthroat financial executive to a true force of nature in the not-so-wild west. One could argue that, for better and for worse, she was ultimately John's true heir — a dubious honor she earned by embracing her father's violent ways firsthand in the finale.

Beth had already embraced killing as a necessary part of the Yellowstone fight for survival, and by the first half of season 5, she was actively campaigning for the assassination of her own adopted brother, Jamie. Once she becomes certain of Jamie's role in John's own assassination, her fury is fully unleashed — she ambushes Jamie in his home, physically beats him, and (with a last-minute save from Rip Wheeler) stabs him in the gut, killing him.

The specific way Beth chooses to kill Jamie could be symbolic. The location she stabs him in — on her own body — would be close to her reproductive system. It's probably the closest she can get to directly paying him back for sterilizing her without her consent when they were young, which is where much of Beth's deep hatred for Jamie stems from. It also could be seen as a definitive healing moment for Beth in a strange way, as she does the killing herself and thus gets to take full ownership of the brutal, lawless, and deadly nature of her life, which has haunted her since the tragic death of her mother.

If there's one storyline Taylor Sheridan and "Yellowstone" absolutely stuck the landing on, it was that of Kayce. The youngest of the Duttons had always been the heart of the series, a physical manifestation of the conflict between his family and the reservation that consistently made "Yellowstone" more compelling. Kayce's journey throughout the series saw the veteran and rancher, once essentially estranged from his family, be pulled back into their lives. Though he sought to secure a better future for his wife Monica and their son Tate, the Yellowstone Ranch corrupted as much as it provided,

In the finale of "Yellowstone," Kayce has finally become the man he needs to be both to honor his family on the reservation and to protect the land his father and siblings had dedicated their lives to. Rather than get tangled up in the violence as he had in the premiere, he makes a deal with Chief Thomas Rainwater to sell the Duttons' land for about a dollar an acre — the price the Duttons originally purchased the land for, which happens to be enough to settle the remaining siblings' imposing inheritance tax liability. But more than anything else, it frees Kayce once and for all, a desire echoed in his request to Tate that he be buried wherever he is — not on the ranch.

Shooting the second half of season 5 was easy for Luke Grimes, and he seemed ready to say goodbye to Kayce for good after the finale. In 2025, however, it was confirmed that he would reprise the role of Kayce to lead an untitled "Yellowstone" spin-off — and though there aren't details out yet, we know exactly what we'd like to see next from our favorite Dutton.