On Yellowstone, no one is ever truly safe. Over the course of the past 4 seasons, our favorite characters have had more than one close call with death. Ahead of season 5, the official Yellowstone Instagram posted a video in September 2022 celebrating Rip’s birthday and teased “something big is coming.”
The tease immediately had fans thinking the worst about the beloved Rip Wheeler, who has become one of Yellowstone’s biggest fan favorites. “Better not kill him off!!!” one fan wrote. Another commented, “Idc what happens in this next season just DO NOT take rip away from Beth!”
One fan even thought the tease was a spoiler. The fan wrote, “‘Something big is coming’ hmm, spoiler. Way to ruin it, he’s probably gonna die.”
When visiting TODAY, Cole Hauser addressed the rumors that Rip could be killed off in season 5. “My mom’s told me a couple of them and I said, ‘Mom, I do the killing. Don’t worry about it,'” Cole said. As for a double confirmation about Rip’s fate, Cole added, “I think we’re OK. For now.”
While Rip appears to be safe at the moment, the same can’t be said for other characters. Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan hinted that fans will be saying goodbye to more than one character this season. “If you look at everyone as a chess piece, in season 5 it is impossible to keep playing the game without taking pieces off the board,” he told Entertainment Tonight.
Season 5 will kick off on November 13 with back-to-back episodes on Paramount Network. John Dutton is sworn in as the new governor of Montana and makes Beth his new chief of staff. “I love Montana, but I’m doing this for our family,” John said in the trailer. Jamie, who is no stranger to politics, told Beth that she’s going to have to fight “dirty” in this political world. “Is there any other way?” Beth replied. Season 5 will consist of 14 episodes, split into two parts of 7 episodes.