‘Yellowstone’ Star Cole Hauser Says Fans Will Be ‘Very Wrong’ About Series Finale

Some Yellowstone fans are going to be in for a surprise when it comes to how the hit show wraps up its final season. Cole Hauser, who plays Rip Wheeler on the Paramount Network show, opened up about what’s to come in the second part of its fifth and final season during an interview with Entertainment Tonight, revealing that some fans of the western drama “will be very wrong” when it comes to their finale theories.

Asked if fans will be happy with how the series wraps up, Hauser, 49, answered, “I hope so, yeah!” He added, “I think there are a lot of people that, well, millions of people that have an idea of how it’s going to be and, I think some will be right and some will be very wrong.”

The second half of Season 5 is “really picking up the pieces and moving on” after lead actor Kevin Costner’s abrupt exit from the show. “Figure out how to lose such a polarizing figure in John Dutton and also come together as a family and as a unit, and understand what happened,” Hauser said. “There’s just a lot of different moving pieces that Taylor [Sheridan, co-creator] did a really good job and a really smart job of doing. …Everybody really has their moment to deal with the loss and also, how to continue to survive.”

Returning to Montana to shoot the second half of Season 5 was a “great” opportunity for the cast to reunite and bid farewell to the series. “There’s not a lot going on where we shoot so we spend time together off set. So, there’s dinners, and sitting on porches, and fishing, and hanging out and just being, being normal folk up in Montana,” Hauser shared. “So, it was great to get together and then to complete the season with everybody.”

He recalled, “At the very end, the last day I was sitting on my horse and I was looking at the backdrop of Yellowstone and the mountains, and I just thought wow what an office I’ve been allowed to play in.”

Looking back on Rip’s overwhelming appeal with fans, Hauser credited Sheridan for writing the cowboy as such a lovable “underdog.” He explained, “Obviously, I got the ability to show those colors throughout the years and, ultimately, he’s gotten to a place where he has a wonderful wife that loves him dearly, madly to the end. So, it’s a wonderful journey for a character and we’ll see if it continues.” As for whether or not fans will get to see Rip and Beth’s story continue on a rumored spinoff, Hauser only teased, “Maybe, we’ll see!”

Yellowstone returns for the second half of Season 5 on Sunday, Nov. 10 on the Paramount Network at 8 p.m. ET.