‘Yellowstone’: Taylor Sheridan knows how to end drama, says star Wes Bentley

yellowstone is nowhere near an expiration date, but that doesn’t mean co-creator/EP Taylor Sheridan doesn’t already know how to end his addictive drama. During a panel for the series Friday at the Screen Actors Guild headquarters in Los Angeles, star Wes Bentley (Jamie Dutton) admitted that Sheridan already has a series finale in mind for the hit Paramount Network drama.

“He told me he knew how he wanted to end it,” says Bentley, who also included Gil Birmingham (Thomas Rainwater), Kelsey Asbille (Monica Dutton) and Dawn Olivieri (Sarah Atwood) on the panel. “It’s been a while. I’m sure he didn’t know how we were going to get there, but he knows how.”

When asked if he felt a Dutton (or two) should die by the end of the show, Bentley simply said, “I’m not a Dutton.”

Bentley even thinks his character is practically dead. “I don’t think he’s playing a game here. He wants something left for his son. I think he saw himself [dead] from before the start of the season. He already knows what is happening to him. He knows what’s coming and he tries to make the best of it by taking steps and taking chances.”

“Is he just clinging to power or is he really trying to do something with the country?” Bentley continued. “I think Jamie has valid questions about a lot of things and that’s what makes it difficult for him. He has a good point. He’s not necessarily doing it right, or I think in a way that people hate, but it’s his way and it’s who he is.” (Read a recap of the midseason finale here).

Bentley and his co-stars don’t know what’s next for the drama; They are scheduled to resume production later this month to film the episodes, which will air this summer. Instead, the four cast members treated the SAG audience to stories from the set and what it was like working with the notoriously reclusive Sheridan, who prefers to leave the acting to the actors.

In other words, they don’t expect much feedback from Sheridan before someone yells Action.

“My first experience with Taylor was in 1883,” says Olivieri, who played Claire Dutton, sister of Tim McGraw’s James Dutton. yellowstone Forerunner She now plays the vixen who seduces Jamie into asking for John Dutton’s impeachment. And I have to tell you, when the director/writer doesn’t tell you how to act, the first feeling is complete uncertainty. Because you’re like, ‘Oh my god, I sound terrible. I do a terrible job. He didn’t say a word to me at all and I have to screw it up. He’s just thinking about how to fire me, isn’t he?’ But that uncertainty is really magical because it gives you that extra strength that you didn’t have when you started.”

Birmingham recalled an opening scene with Danny Huston (Dan Jenkins) where they both had to pretend to play golf. “It had to happen at the golf club first. They made me a brand new suit and everything. We got on set and Taylor said, “We’re going to play golf today.” I said, ‘Oh, that’s cute.’ He told me to go to the pro shop and get ready. That’s all he said. So Danny and I were out there, cameras were set up and we were waiting for lockdown. Then I hear: ‘Okay, we’re going.’ What? We didn’t block anything. So we whirl through and I’m like, ‘Oh, he’s coming out to fix it.’ He never came out. I said, “Danny, I think we’re on our own.” So we had to direct this whole scene ourselves.

The actors closed the panel by sharing some of their more awkward encounters fans. Asbille recalled being approached by a police officer at a Walgreen’s, thinking she was famous, but not really recognizing her until he saw her father was a yellowstone t shirt

“He might as well have had an arrow on his shirt pointing at me,” Asbille said of her father, who is “a big fan”.

Olivieri recounted how an employee at the local hay store in Arkansas – where she owns a farm and horses – was skeptical of her fame, so he asked her to wait until his family arrived to confirm her identity.

“Then the cousins ​​roll up in their car, followed by Jim Bob on his tractor,” remembers Olivieri. “It’s such a small town. I was there for about 30 minutes when the whole extended family kept pouring in because they couldn’t believe what was happening.

Bentley admitted that most of his fans just wanted to break up with Jamie. “I’m in therapy, which is weird. They want to talk to me about all his problems and what is wrong with him. Or they yell at me from across the room about how much they hate me. But they smile so I feel safe. Nobody followed me everywhere.’