‘Yellowstone’ Gave Every Character an Ending, Except for One

Yellowstone fans watched as Rip took one final trip to the train station, but the fate of the man who went over the edge wasn’t the only fate revealed during the Season 5 finale.

Expectations heading into Sunday night’s (Dec. 15) episode were that we’d learn Kayce, Monica, Beth and Jamie’s future, to the extent that they had one. However, if the credits rolled without us knowing what was to become of Lloyd, Teeter, Ryan and Walker, we’d have been pretty angry.

Fortunately, the showed provided answers to all the questions, with one glaring omission.

• Yellowstone Season 5, Episode 14 was called “Life Is a Promise” and it was the final episode in the series.
• A new spinoff (described as a sixth season) has been confirmed in the media, but not by Paramount or Taylor Sheridan.
• This article contains several major spoilers.

Related: Yellowstone Season 5, Episode 14 Finale Breakdown

Yellowstone Season 5 Finale Recap:

In a lot of ways, the finale progressed exactly how so many fans — especially those who’ve watched 1883 — figured it might. Kayce and Beth sold the ranch to Rainwater for pennies on the dollar ($1.25 an acre for nearly 900,000 acres). In exchange, he agreed to parcel out 5,000 for Kayce, Monica and Tate to live on, and to never develop the land.

That more or less put the youngest of John Dutton’s kids’ future to bed. He was free of any expectations that came with being a Dutton, and there was no reason to think he’d not live happily there for decades to come.

At the end, we watched him and Tate buy 300 head of cattle — they’ve got their work cut out for them!

Beth and Rip will also take up a ranching life after she killed Jamie Dutton and he took the body to the train station. There really weren’t any plot twists — the finale was as much of a proper send off to John Dutton (and by extension, actor Kevin Costner) as it was a resolution to remaining plot lines.

What Happened to … Every Yellowstone Character’s Fate Revealed:

The future of each of the show’s central characters was addressed in the finale, some in very specific ways. Here is what you need to know about where every Yellowstone personality is headed.

Beth Dutton, Rip Wheeler and Carter: As mentioned, they moved to the old Big O Ranch, 40 miles west of Dillon, Mont. There they’ll start their own ranch, running 600 pairs across 7,000 acres (plus 20K on a government lease).

Notable is that Dillon is close to the Madison River Valley, where the next Yellowstone spinoff The Madison is set to take place. Could Rip and Beth be a part of that show? Or maybe the two shows will exchange cast members? Time (likely lots of time) will tell.

Colby Mayfield: Colby dies during Ep. 12 of Season 5 when he gets stomped on by an angry horse. He was trying to protect Carter.

Ethan and Jake: The two most anonymous ranch hands got a nod during the finale when Rip starts handing out envelopes full of cash as a way of saying goodbye. The two signed on at the N-Bar Ranch, an actual ranch in central Montana.

Gator: Gator’s future is a big unknown. He is the only character who didn’t disclose his future during Ep. 14. Surely he’ll go cook for someone else, but where? Like Lug Nut Boy, the bomb on the Beck brother’s plane and Tate’s dinosaur bones, fans will just never know.

Kayce and Monica Dutton and Tate: As mentioned above, Kayce Dutton, his wife and son will live on the 5,000-acre East Camp that used to be part of the Dutton Yellowstone Ranch, even if government land separated the two parcels. They begin their own brand of cattle farming here.

Jamie Dutton: Jamie Dutton punched his ticket to the train station and no one was mad about it.

Jimmy Hurdstrom and Emily: Jimmy will continue to train horses with Travis at Bosque Ranch in Texas. He’s married now, and presumably he and Emily will work on starting a family.

John Dutton: John Dutton died at the start of Part 2 of Season 5 of Yellowstone. Hitmen killed the family patriarch, making it look like suicide.

Lloyd Pierce: Lloyd’s next job description requires some translation from someone who has lived that cowboy life. Per the show’s closed captions, he tells Rip, “I wanna pull that loose string out of West Yellowstone.”

I don’t know what that means, but it’s clear he’s done cowboying, as he adds that if he can’t do it on the Yellowstone Ranch, he doesn’t want to do it.

Chief Rainwater + Mo: We’re left to believe that the noise they create by dumping pipe in the water will be enough to pressure the government away from building a pipeline through his reservation. The Broken Rock Reservation now includes the full Dutton Ranch, too, but that will be preserved as an environmental area.

Ryan (No Last Name): Ryan decides he’s done playing cowboy and chooses to go find Abby, the singer and songwriter he fell in love with at the end of Season 5, Part 1. The plan works and they rekindle their romance after one of her concerts in Texas. For now he’s going to join her on the road.

Summer Higgins: With John Dutton dead, Summer’s presence on the ranch was not appreciated by Beth. So, during Ep. 10 of Season 5, Beth kicks Summer out and Rip takes her to the local airport.

Teeter (No Last Name): Teeter needed to get away from Montana after boyfriend Colby Mayfield’s death, so she asks Travis for a job. He agrees and she drives down to Texas to work alongside Jimmy.

Walker and Laramie (No Last Name): Walker and Laramie plan to live in her camper trailer and work the rodeo circuit together. As a convicted felon on parole, many figured he couldn’t leave the state, but that’s clearly not an issue for the troubadour.