‘Yellowstone’ Star Wes Bentley Discusses Shocking Finale Deaths

Wes Bentley is speaking out following that jaw-dropping Yellowstone Season 3 finale. The final episode of the 10-episode season ended on perhaps the largest cliffhanger of the series to date when the “board got wiped” clean in the form of the potential deaths of multiple fan-favorite characters. Warning: This post contains spoilers for Yellowstone Season 3, Episode 10, “The World Is Purple.”

During the final minutes of the episode, John Dutton, Beth Dutton, and Kaybe Dutton were all the victims of violent attacks via bullets and explosions, a 10-minute sequence that left even Bentley, who portrays Jamie, in shock. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Bentley admitted that his initial reaction to reading the script was little more than “‘Oh?!’” He said that the possible deaths offer something close to a fresh start and allow the show and creator Taylor Sheridan to explore a number of different avenues.

“With Taylor, we’ll be on a path down one way and he’ll cut the branches on the side so we’re going to tumble down with him. I think big, big, dramatic things happen, violent things happen, and in a lot of ways it defines the show because that’s who gets the ultimate say. It comes down to that [brutality],” he said. “Outside of aliens landing, I don’t know where Taylor is going to go from here. He gave himself the ability to go from any angle now. To restart or refresh, he definitely has left himself an open door for a lot of options. I think that’s clever. He has a plan, so I think he was ahead of it. As an audience, it feels like the board got wiped and we can write some new things on that board.”

Those possible deaths, however, will undoubtedly have a major impact on the existing characters, including Bentley’s own onscreen counterpart. He said that the finale has left Jamie a man “without a spine, without legs to stand on” and said that it will be “a really interesting thing to see” how things play out for his character.

With fans are already theorizing on the numerous murder sequences that occurred, many throwing in their guesses as to who could be behind them, Bentley said that he is looking forward to listening to the theories. He told EW that while he doesn’t “go online” and actively seek such theories out, they still manage to find their way to him. He added that he loves that “fans get involved and have theories and we’re going to have a lot of fun with it” and that “it’s going to be a blast to hear about what fans think as a community.”

Yellowstone was renewed for a fourth season by Paramount Network back in February. It does not yet have a premiere date. Stay tuned to PopCulture.com for the latest information.