Warning: This article contains spoilers for Dutton Ranch season 1’s finale.
Yellowstone sequel Dutton Ranch has concluded its first season and – spoiler alert – it doesn’t end well for one of the show’s main characters.
In a shock twist, the ninth episode sees Jai Courtney (Suicide Squad, American Primeval) bow out as Rob-Will Jackson, who meets a violent end after a moving scene with his daughter.
Rob-Will acknowledges that he’s been a subpar father to Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind) over the years, but used his final moments to declare how proud he was of the woman she had become.
Whether or not he could sense his time approaching is ambiguous, but Rob-Will is lying dead minutes later, having been shot fatally. The question is, who pulled the trigger?
The episode positions his own half-brother, Joaquin Jackson Reyes (played by Juan Pablo Raba), as the prime suspect, but in an old editing trick the scene cuts away as the gunshot rings out.
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That means we could be in for a surprise when the culprit is revealed, likely in season 2, with Raba himself telling Entertainment Weekly that he’s not convinced that his character carried out the hit.
“I don’t think he did it because he’s not a killer,” began Raba. “He’s not even a cowboy… he has never shot anyone in his life.”
Raba highlighted the speed of the execution, noting that the killer shot Rob-Will within moments of him answering the door, indicating someone with experience who would not hesitate.
“It takes a lot of cold blood to do that. You have to be a professional killer to do that,” suggesting that Joaquin’s father, Mariano (Raoul Max Trujillo), could have arranged for someone to take Rob-Will off the board.
Still, even Raba cannot be completely certain what route the writers will take, revealing that the team filmed multiple versions of the scene, including “one where he did it” and “one where he saw somebody else do it”.
While that status quo-shifting development is likely to be the headline, it wasn’t the only noteworthy twist in the Dutton Ranch season 1 finale.
Elsewhere, Carter (Finn Little) finds himself in a precarious position, as he is kidnapped by Mariano’s men after attempting to break away from his adoptive parents, Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser).
Hauser indicated to TV Insider that it would be his wish to see an attempt to rescue Carter at the very start of Dutton Ranch’s next chapter.
“It’s a good way to open another season of the show, to see them back on offensive… Obviously, we’ll have to figure out with Benjamin [Cavell, new showrunner] and the writing team where it goes, but I think everybody knows that it’s game on,” he teased.
The abduction also raises the possibility of further friction between Beth, Rip and Beulah (Annette Bening), who has a relationship with Mariano dating back to a deeply traumatic incident in her youth.
Indeed, it’s possible that she even cooperated with him in the killing of her son, Rob-Will, as he attempts to reinstate his authority in the region.
Hauser continued: “There’s some issues that need to be sorted out with Beulah, and I think she will hopefully be a tool to get to where we need to get to, to find what we want, which is our son.”
Reilly added: “I don’t think Beulah is the true enemy. She was just in over her head and made some really, really bad choices, but she was doing it for her family, and Beth can understand that. So they’re quite similar in a way.”
There’s certainly lots to get stuck into when Dutton Ranch returns – fortunately, the show’s future was secured in June, so we can rest assured that there will be answers to our burning questions.
Dutton Ranch is available to stream on Paramount+.
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