Yellowstone actor Cole Hauser has quite the take on what’s next for Rip Wheeler as his life with Beth Dutton hangs in the balance following an explosive end to Season 3. As Rip readied himself for a proposal in one of the more morbid ways we’ve seen on TV, danger was waiting at every turn for the important people in his life. By the end of the episode, not only was the fate of Beth (Kelly Reilly) hanging in the balance, John (Kevin Costner), and Kayce (Luke Grimes) were also in mortal danger.
Ahead of the finale, Hauser spoke with Esquire about Rip’s possible future with Beth — if she makes it — as well as Rip’s softening over the season arc. “I got to say — out of everybody, [Kelly Reilly] is such a pleasure to work with,” he said of crafting Rip and Beth’s relationship. “We have so much to do together. Being able to act them with her is an honor. [Regarding Rip and Beth], absolutely. I think that world is starting to open up. That’s absolutely something that could happen. You’re going to see how it shakes out at the end, but… we’ll see where Taylor takes us. I don’t sit with him and say, ‘Hey, by year seven, are we here or there?’ That relationship, it could go many different ways, but I think it could go in the way of us being together.” Asked about Rip’s “best case end,” Hauser said he sees his character with Beth, “in a shack.” He continued, “It would be a real success story for both of them. Not just for Rip, because they’ll have each other.”
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Hauser joked that even his friends have sent him posts and fan theories ahead of the finale fearing Rip would meet his end. “You know you’re doing alright if people are making those kind of things up. It’s not something i pay a lot of attention to, but it’s interesting that people are going in that direction,” he said. As for the seemingly-inevitable tragic end for the Yellowstone stars, Hauser added he doesn’t think of the story as “tragic,” explaining that the creators set out to explore “part of the country and what they’re going through that people didn’t know about.”
“It’s survived 130 years already. It’s one of those things that’s like, oh, this is going away,” he continued. “It’s not going to be like this anymore, but it is. All the things happening in 1879 are still happening to this day. It would have to be a long tragedy. I think this is a great depiction of ranchers, water rights, American Indians, casino business. It’s the same thing, with a newer spin on it.”
