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The Dutton Family

John Dutton

Dubbed by: Bernard Lanneau (European French)

A rancher who, as the show begins, heads the Yellowstone ranch — one of the largest in the United States — and serves as the Livestock Commissioner and later Governor for the State of Montana. Fiercely loyal to a fault, he is hell-bent on protecting the ranch from outside interests and ensuring it stays within his family.

Abusive Parents: Exclusively to Jamie, his adopted son. He makes it very clear that Jamie's only value to him is that he's the ranch's legal representation, and allows Beth's physical abuse of him. At the end of Season 4, however, he gets a Pet the Dog moment where he realizes the ramifications of letting Beth functionally Blackmail Jamie over the murder of his real father, and comments that he still loves him regardless.
All Take and No Give: John’s relationship with Jamie is this. Despite Jamie doing everything John wanted him to, including becoming a lawyer, John himself never does anything for Jamie, and always considers Jamie his biggest disappointment despite Jamie never having done anything to warrant such disapproval. The lack of respect results in Jamie going against him, declaring John’s impeachment from being Governor.
Badass in Distress:
- One episode has him fall down suddenly at the ranch, causing the ranch-hands to hurriedly get him to the on-site veterinarian — where it's revealed that he's ruptured his ulcer (presumably due to stress over the repeated machinations of power players trying to seize control of the property).
- A series of episodes follows his diagnosis and treatment of colon cancer, which causes him significant concern.
- The Season 4 premiere has him nearly die after being shot multiple times by members of the militia, prompting him to spend the next two months in the hospital.
Berserk Button: If anyone on this show has learned one consistent lesson, it's that it's a bad, bad idea to threaten any member of his family, as the Montana Free Militia learns (with fatal consequences during Season 3 and the opening of Season 4).
Commander Contrarian: He can definitely be this whenever he interacts with outsiders. Name one scene where John doesn't vehemently disagree with people not from Montana. Oh right, you can't, because he never agrees or even concedes. This can even get to the point where John disregards things about ranching just so he can disagree with "political types". For example, he disagrees with installing solar panels because it will destroy sage grass in the process. Sage grass is one of the most useless plants to grow in pastures, which all ranchers know. ^Note
Doting Grandparent: He dotes on his grandson Tate in a way he never treated his own kids.
Double Standard: John has quite a few of these, mostly concerning the actions of his family.
- Beth is allowed to physically abuse Jamie. If Jamie fights back, he's the one in the wrong. The most John does is ask at one point for Beth to "take it easy on him", but he doesn't push it when she refuses.
- Jamie attempting suicide earns him a condescending speech from John about how it's selfish, but Beth admitting to trying to push Jamie to suicide earns her no ire from John.
- His views of coastal elites is a clear double standard, and seems to come out of denial that John is a member of the elite. Basically, every flaw John applies to outsiders is something the Duttons do as well, just in a rural setting.
Enemy Mine:
- Puts aside his differences with Rainwater and Jenkins (even hosting a sit-down meeting where they all comment that Even Evil Has Standards) to ally and go after the Beck clan as a united front.
- He also puts aside his differences with Rainwater so they can go after Market Equities together in Season 3.
Establishing Character Moment: The very first scene of the show exemplifies his philosophy and power — he is first seen consoling a mortally-wounded horse after he was involved in a major auto accident that mangled another vehicle. After performing a Mercy Kill on the horse, he finds a note Foreshadowing a threat to the valley, then comments on his I Did What I Had to Do tendencies ("the things we do to keep you fed") to a group of cows on the ranch, while a pair of officers arrive at the scene and are shown practically gawking at John, who they refer to as the "Commissioner".
Everyone Can See It: Part of the reason why he gives his blessing for Rip to marry Beth — Rip is Like a Son to Me, and he's well aware of their budding romance (even if everyone else knows about it, but refuses to tell him about it).
Hypocrite: He chastises Beth for getting Summer arrested, stating: "We don't kill sheep, we kill wolves." But clearly, what John considers "a wolf" is pretty wishy-washy. In the second episode, he orders Rip to murder a mortician to destroy evidence, whose only crime was having a very dangerous addiction to formaldehyde.
I Gave My Word: The entire series is motivated by his philosophy — he promised his father that he would uphold the values of the ranch and keep it in the Dutton family, and everything he does (from getting into physical conflict with enemies to political machinations) is in support of that goal. Even when Market Equities offers a massive cash offer in Season 4 (and Beth advises him to take it, noting the consequences of not doing so), he steadfastly refuses to budge, citing this trope.
I Own This Town: Numerous references in the first season indicate that previous generations more-or-less built Yellowstone Valley into what it is, and the enemies that try to go up against his family realize very quickly why it is a bad idea to take him on. To note, early on in the first season, Dan Jenkins speaks to an investor about suing John, only to be told (in no uncertain terms) "there isn't a jury in this state that would convict John Dutton".
It's Personal: He does not take threats to his ranch or his family quietly.
- When Malcolm and Teal Beck kidnap John's grandson, Tate, John goes after them and eventually shoots and kills both men, as the latter tries to flee.
Jurisdiction Friction: With Kayce, after the latter defers livestock officers to help Rainwater (giving his tribe authority to martial them) while investigating the disappearance of a native woman — and drawing ire from John in the process, who initially refused to support the motion.
The Millstone: This is how Jamie sees him by Season 5, and secretly, so does Beth. Jamie calls Beth out for knowing that John is the problem with the ranch, and for doing little to stop him. They both know that John's outdated views and inability to change will eventually destroy them.
Moral Myopia: His morality hinges mostly on himself and the ranch, to the point that he seems to forget the bad things his family has done. During the meeting with Rainwater and Jenkins, he remarks that his family has never crossed the line of attacking their families. This obviously negates how Beth screwed with Jenkins' marriage to break him emotionally, and several other schemes that hinge on ruining people's lives.
Nepotism: To the extent that he gets his son, Kayce, hand-picked as the new Livestock Commissioner after having to "fall on his sword" early on in the series, and has Jamie installed as the new Attorney General of Montana. Given the amount of power he wields (his Establishing Character Moment has police officers defer to him as he investigates a fatal crash), this was to be expected.
No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: After Foreshadowing a dream he had about stopping to help a woman and her son who were stuck at the side of a road with a flat tire, he faces that exact same scenario at the end of Season 3 — and for his efforts, he's (non-fatally) shot by a member of the Montana Free Militia, who were stalking him as part of an assassination contract, while the woman he was trying to help is shot in the back.
The Other Darrin: A younger version of John is played by Josh Lucas in several flashbacks.
Parent with New Paramour:
- The series starts with an example of this, as John (after years of pining for his deceased wife, Evelyn) is maintaining a relationship with Governor Lynette Perry as the season begins.
- In Season 4, he starts a relationship with Summer after helping her skirt the charges from the protest she was involved in.
The Patriarch: More-or-less rules Yellowstone Ranch with an iron fist (though he's very compassionate towards his family, particularly the youngest members), and much of the series is motivated by his quest to keep the property out of the hands of infringing developers or power-players.
Screw the Money, I Have Rules!!: To a T — much of the conflict throughout the series is motivated by his decision to keep the ranch in the family rather than selling it and letting his family live comfortably on the proceeds, because of the responsibility he feels to the family who passed the ranch down to him.
Underestimating Badassery:As exemplified repeatedly in the series, John often runs up against people who presume him to be a simple rancher who will fold at the first drop of pressure — unaware that he not only has the political connections to make life difficult for any threats (though still retaining a degree of civility), but that he has the combat skills to match.
Ungrateful Bastard: John’s this to Jamie. John never shows any gratitude for the things Jamie has done to help the Dutton family. This ends up being Deconstructed for John when Jamie turns against him and calls for John’s impeachment.
Villain Protagonist: Zig-zagged. A good argument could be made that John Dutton is a classic example of a Villain Protagonist, complete with a Sympathetic P.O.V. to rope the audience in to rooting for him. After all, being the patriarch of a cowboy mafia doesn't help. That said most of John's enemies are just as bad as him (if not worse,) bring the show to a Grey-and-Gray Morality conflict.

Kayce Dutton

Portrayed by: Luke Grimes

Achilles in His Tent: The series starts with Kayce being a glorified gofer for the Broken Rock Tribe, who is forced to run menial jobs and act subservient to individuals like Robert Long, even ignoring his family's requests to help during a cattle dispute initiated by the Tribe. It isn't until his brother is shot down by Robert that it immediately becomes clear why he wanted to stay out of the fight — he was a former Navy SEAL who quickdraws a fellow combat veteran to save his brother's life, though the latter eventually succumbs to his wounds.
Bad Ass Driver: Kayce goes full kamikaze on a bad guy's fleeing van, ramming it into a spin right off the road when it crosses an intersection. He's able to maintain enough control to keep his truck going fairly straight and come safely to a stop.
Crazy-Prepared: Kasey keeps a flash bang in his office and a fully automatic rifle in his truck. He uses the former to dazzle the men sent to kill him and kill them instead. He then uses the latter to go full-on Terminator mode against his father's hitmen.
Elites Are More Glamorous: A former U.S. Navy SEAL who saw combat in Afghanistan. As such, he is easily the most lethal member of the cast.
The Kirk: “I’ve killed more men than anyone you know, but I am NOT a murderer.” His role in the family. Essentially, he is the only Dutton that gets along with all the Duttons, and in turn the only Dutton all the other Duttons have a positive opinion of.
Love at First Sight: It’s all but openly stated this is what happened with Kayce and Monica.
Kayce: Trying to remember what I was wearing the day I met you.
Monica: All I remember is, you weren’t wearing it for long.
Parental Favoritism: John Dutton makes no secret of the fact that Kayce is his favorite child and heir apparent, the one he plans to leave Yellowstone to. Surprisingly, unlike other examples, this does not earn him the ire of his two other siblings because they both get along with him. In fact, their love for Kayce is pretty much the ONLY thing Jamie and Beth agree on.

Beth Dutton

Portrayed by: Kelly Reilly

Beauty Is Never Tarnished: Averted hard in Season 4, when (due to an explosion that nearly kills her) she sports massive bruises, a black-eye, stitches across her face and (as revealed during a love scene later in the season) significant burn damage to her entire back. By the time the season ends, she still hasn't completely healed.
- Also averted very hard earlier between seasons 2 and 3. When the hitmen from the Becks arrive at her office and leave Beth severely beaten, it takes the entire rest of the second season and a few episodes of season 3 for the bruises and marks to fade away. Even by the midpoint of season 3, she still looks as if she has some damage to her face, including what looks like a scar beneath the corner of her right eye.
Broken Bird: Her mother's death and the hysterectomy performed on her turns her into a cynical, callous and sadistic individual, barely able to hold herself together, and forms the core of her character. Beth is a mess.
Cain and Abel: The Cain to Jamie's Abel. Beth is extremely cruel and abusive to Jamie, going to such lengths as to force him to kill his own father at the end of Season 4 and then use it as blackmail. When she finds out Jamie has a son, she threatens to take him away from Jamie. When Jamie makes his move against John and reveals to Beth the "train station", effectively rendering her blackmail powerless over him, Beth has a Villainous Breakdown and asks her father to outright murder Jamie.
Damsel in Distress: Held hostage and nearly killed by Malcolm Beck's men in Season 2, before Rip arrives to save her.
Deadpan Snarker: Beth has a rather dry and venomous wit whenever she talks to people.
Double Standard: Exemplified as part of her character flaw — she repeatedly blames others for past incidents while refusing to admit her own role in what happened.
- She makes a habit of verbally (and physically) abusing Jamie. When he finally snaps and hits her back, she mocks him claiming that he isn't a "real man" because he can't restrain himself... having already mocked him repeatedly for being too weak to fight back. What's worse, he gets blamed by John for hitting her, while she gets off scot-free.
- She also harbors resentment at Jamie after it's revealed that he funded an abortion for her as a teen (due to her Wild Child tendencies) that also included a hysterectomy, leaving her unable to bear children. The only time we hear her give the closest thing to an explanation is when she tells Rip in Season 3 that it's one of two decisions she ever made that were based on fear, though this doesn't change how she acts towards Jamie.
The Dreaded: She's more-or-less considered to be this by Bob Schwartz and Caroline Warner for her cutthroat nature gobbling up smaller firms for their interests, to such an extent that the latter outright calls her a "monster" in Season 4.
Drink-Based Characterization: It's heavily implied that she took up drinking whiskey in an effort to avoid nightmares and traumatic incidents in her past, as she tells her father in Season 4 that she needs at least five more glasses "just to sleep". This is said after she's explicitly told her father that she's gone back on the wagon in an attempt to alleviate her habit.
Driven to Suicide: This is the implied endgame that Beth has in mind for her enemies, especially Jamie. She doesn't want to kill people she hates, she wants to break them down psychologically until they do it themselves. Her most blatant attempts are her cuckolding of Jenkins, and giving Jamie a Suicide Dare.
Evil Is Petty: Beth's character is defined by being able to Kick the Dog whenever she can, no matter how small the slights against her are.
Fan Disservice: The series highlights this early in the first season, when she disrobes and takes a bath in a horse trough (completely averting Scenery Censor in the process) — but the reason why she's doing so is because she's drinking to forget her mother's death and angrily yelling at Jamie, gives a Death Glare at her father's new paramour, and is heard telling Rip that "everybody suffers today, even you" as she stalks off naked, despite his attempts to get her to cover up.
For the Evulz: Beth admits to Monica that all the mean things she has said and done were for fun.
Happily Married: To Rip Wheeler, as of the Season 4 finale.
Hidden Depths: It's revealed in Season 3 that the reason why she hates Jamie is because the latter funded an abortion after she got pregnant as a teenager — but didn't tell her initially that the procedure would include a hysterectomy, which has left her unable to have children. The action is shown to have fueled her animosity towards him for many years.
Hidden Heart of Gold: Though sometimes it’s simply Protagonist-Centered Morality, she has her moments that shows Beth isn't a complete monster. Unfortunately, these moments are relatively rare and she usually lets her sadistic side get the best of her.
Hypocrite: One of the things she likes to call out Jamie for is acting like a "Well Done, Son" Guy, ignoring that she is just as much, if not more. Although she often argues with her father about his decisions, she has shown time and time again how her obsession to never disappoint him prevents her to go further than that.
Jerkass Has a Point: Beth loves tearing into Jamie at every opportunity, calling him a spineless asshole who is only loyal to himself. She has a point, though her abuse seems to turn her accusations into a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy, driving Jaime to think of himself rather than the family who abuse him.
Jerkass to One: While Beth is always rude and condescending towards people, she noticeably acts more cruel and abusive to Jamie, expressing more joy in Jamie’s suffering than she does towards other people’s. This could stem from Jamie having Beth sterilized when she was a teen.
Lady Drunk: Her establishing character moment has her partaking in this, as she browbeats a business associate (while slightly tipsy) into surrendering his company to her. Further episodes posit that she's a functional drunk, and that she does so to mask her depression and trauma from past events. She is eventually swayed by her father to lessen her reliance on drinking (particularly after she gets married) and more-or-less steps away from this role by Season 3. Sort of.
Locked Out of the Loop: Surprisingly, she was unaware of the Train Station before Jamie revealed it to her during season 5. This throws a wrench in her blackmail against him, as he dumped his father's body in the same location. Leading the police to one would expose the other.
My Greatest Failure: Season 5 seems to suggest that Beth's treatment of Rip as a teenager (and the loss of time she could have spent with him instead of playing the field) is part of the reason she suffers from relationship issues, as she tearfully apologizes to him for everything she's done early on in Season 5.
Psychopathic Womanchild: She's been described as having never grew out as a 14-year old Bratty Teenage Daughter even when she became an adult with her moments of childishness cultivating in bullying and humiliating people, especially Jamie.
Really Gets Around: She makes no secret of the fact that she was a "bad girl" as a teenager and adult, though it's more-or-less said to have been a direct result of her mother's death and her own internal issues. Season 3 and Season 5 both feature flashbacks with at least one character (Jamie) talking about her loose reputation, while the latter has the teenaged Beth seduce a fellow rancher in full view of Rip before dragging the former into the back of a pickup truck.
Sadist: She genuinely enjoys bullying and threatening people beneath her, and takes sick pleasure out of being cruel to her enemies. This goes double for Jamie.
Too Much Information: Makes a habit of revealing way too much information about her sex life, to the point that she tells her father at one point that "the blush got fucked out of me years ago," leading him to ask if that's really necessary to say.
Undying Loyalty: Like the rest of the Dutton clan, she's utterly ruthless in her quest to protect both her father and the ranch from outside influences — particularly because she has the intelligence and drive necessary to make a significant impact via her role as a corporate raider, which is used to great effect to destabilize several forces throughout the show.
Villainous Breakdown: Beth has one after hearing Jamie’s "The Reason You Suck" Speech. After learning that her blackmail against Jamie is useless, compounded with the knowledge that her father’s actions will only lead to the Ranch’s ruin, Beth is left in a state of shock, being incapable of doing anything but spewing insults at Jamie and later begging her father to kill Jamie.
Villain Has a Point: Though Beth may be cruel, petty, and vindictive, she does many times raise legitimate points about a situation, revealing things that are at least partially justified.
The Unfavorite: Of her mother, Evelyn, before the latter died. This perception has led her to culminate a series of increasingly-frantic habits, including time as a Bratty Teenage Daughter and The Alcoholic.
Xanatos Gambit: Season 4 has a long-form version of this, where (after being fired from Schwartz and Meyer), she is poached by Market Equities, led by Caroline Warner, and puts a plan into motion to functionally destroy the latter, even telling Caroline to her face about what she's going to do to her. The fact that her plan also lets her destabilize Schwartz and Meyer is seen as an unintended bonus for her.

Jamie Dutton

Portrayed by: Wes Bentley

A member of the Dutton family, who works as an attorney and has aspirations of moving into a higher political office.

Ambiguously Gay: Before he courts and marries Christina, Beth accuses him of being this, leading him to counter that he's being celibate because he isn't sure if he's ready to start a family and bring a child into the world.
Anti-Villain: Becomes practically a textbook example halfway through Season 5. The constant abuse from the Duttons, the snub by John in the governor race, the cruelty from Beth, being forced to kill his father, and the threats from Beth against his son drive him to become an antagonist to the ranch. His antagonism is completely justified. He's practically a villain only narratively. He even has the foresight to understand that his unhinged sister will attempt to have him killed, and makes plans to counter her.
Berserk Button: When Sarah Nguyen gleefully tells him that she's going to take apart the ranch with her feature story on the corruption in Montana, Jamie snaps, attacking and then strangling her to death.
Butt-Monkey: Jamie repeatedly gets talked down to, insulted and even hit by members of his family, including Beth (who outright tells him to kill himself more than once and harbors a seemingly-irrational hatred for him) and John (who kicks him out of the ranch when he doesn't drop his bid to be Attorney General). This gets Deconstructed when Jamie decides that he’s had enough of the mistreatment and turns against his tormentors.
Cain and Abel: The Abel to Beth's Cain - relatively so. Beth goes to the extreme to torture Jamie, forcing him to kill his own father at the end of season 4. Jamie is the lowest in the Dutton Clan, at best treated like an outcast, and at worst insulted and abused on a consistent basis. All because he's Harvard educated, even though he did exactly as his father asked.
Calling the Old Man Out: He attempts this in Season 3 against John after learning that the latter adopted him as a child, and he's not related to the Duttons by blood. It... doesn't work.
The Dog Bites Back: He has done this two times in Season 5:
- The first time is when Beth gets arrested after instigating a bar brawl in Bozeman. Jamie gets the other instigator (an out-of-towner who goaded Beth into attacking her) to drop the charges... but agrees to have Beth charged with Disorderly Conduct and sentenced to community service. He has to stop himself from laughing when she walks out of the police station complaining about having to pick up "garbage on the freeway in my spare time".
- The second time is during the midseason finale where Jamie gives Beth a well deserved "The Reason You Suck" Speech. Jamie says to Beth that her blackmail against him is useless, is well aware that Beth knows John’s actions brings more harm than good for the ranch but isn’t able to convince John otherwise, and knows how he plans to remove John as a threat to the ranch, while Beth can’t do anything about it. He’s also aware that Beth will try to have him killed, leading him to plan his own assassination on her.
Driven to Suicide: Attempts this after accidentally killing Sarah Nguyen, only to be stopped by John before he can carry through with the act.
Extreme Doormat: Jamie is pretty much a doormat in every sense of the word for the Dutton clan and those around him. Jamie acts like a spineless coward and almost never stands up for himself. People repeatedly walk all over him and take advantage, with Jamie always on the receiving end of another beatdown, physical or emotional. Though by Season 5 Jamie is starting to shed this trope by growing a spine.
Fiction as Cover-Up: Functionally does this in order to protect the family's interests after Hendon's actions cause the deaths of two thieves early in the series, staging it as a drunk-driving car crash both thieves were involved in (and even meeting the victim's father and convincing him of the story).
Grew a Spine: After spending the whole series being an Extreme Doormat to the Dutton’s abuse, he finally stands up to his adoptive family’s abuse, first by publicly calling for John’s impeachment, then by giving a "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards Beth on how her blackmail material is useless against him and knows that John is a threat to the Dutton Ranch and Jamie plans to stop him.
Guilt Complex: Heavily implied that the reason why Jamie is so ineffectual is the massive amount of guilt he's carrying from the botched hysterectomy on Beth. He finally tells Beth that giving her to the clinic was the greatest regret of his life. Unfortunately, she doesn't care.
Ivy League for Everyone: John convinced him to go to Harvard as a young adult, with the plot implying that the former pulled some strings to get admission for the latter. This had the knock-on effect of alienating Jamie from most of the ranchers, as they consider him to be an outsider compared to the rest of the family.
My God, What Have I Done?:
- His murder of Sarah Nguyen is enough to send him into a state of depression for several weeks (or months), both due to the fact that it was the first time he was shown snapping and for leading him to lose Christina.
- Being forced to shoot his own father, Garrett at the end of Season 4, and the fallout that comes alongside it, is enough to leave him stunned when he discovers Beth will use it as Blackmail material against him.
My Greatest Failure: Openly admits that his greatest regret in his life was sending Beth off to the clinic.
Pet the Dog: He's very kind towards his nephew, Tate. He even declares to Beth that he wants to ensure that the ranch gets passed down to Tate and his children.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Jamie gives a pretty cathartic one to Beth after having enough of her abuse, revealing to her that if she leaks info on where his father's body is, that will lead to the police finding all the bodies John put there. Then, he calls her out for how she knows that the ranch business will fail, and that she is only going along with John's plans out of denial. He also makes it clear that he's going to be passing the ranch on to both Tate and his children, reasserting his place in the family, and there's nothing she can do about it. Her only response is to give him petty insults, and later trying to make John murder Jamie.
Sibling Rivalry: With Beth, who he considers to be misanthropic and self-destructive, while she considers him to be weak and ineffectual. The deep-rooted cause of their antagonistic relationship is only revealed later on in Season 3.
Trauma Conga Line: Of the main characters, he easily suffers many repeated indignities, ranging from several My God, What Have I Done? moments over the death of other characters, being blackmailed into shooting his own father at the end of Season 4, learning that he isn't actually a member of the Duttons, just adopted and plenty of other moves by other characters designed to keep him under their thumb.
The Unfavorite: While Beth was this for her own mother, Jamie is this for the entire family, being repeatedly insulted, cajoled and mocked by nearly every other member of the clan for not fitting in with the rest of the ranchers and being Harvard-educated.

Monica Dutton

Monica Long Dutton

Portrayed by: Kelsey Asbille

A member of the Broken Rock Indian Tribe and a local schoolteacher, who is married to Kayce Dutton. The pair have a son, Tate, and face continued challenges balancing their life as part of the family with the needs of the reservation.

Author Filibuster: From Season 2 onwards, the plot stops cold at several points so she can lecture students at the university she's working at on the history of and plight of Native American reservations, and how the expansion of the New Old West threatens their way of life.
Honey Trap: She dresses up in suggestive clothing to lure out a man suspected by the Duttons as having murdered a Native girl.
Important Haircut: She cuts her long hair short in grief after the death of her unborn child early on in Season 5.
Morality Pet: Monica is this to Beth, with the latter even admitting to Monica that she is the only person that Beth is never mean to and is willing to defend Monica in the most dire of situations.
Only Sane Man: Of the main characters, she's generally the most level-headed and stable, completely aware of the Dysfunction Junction she's dealing with in the Duttons and trying to keep Tate out of the way.
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Tate gets kidnapped by the Montana Free Militia, she drops any pretenses of being moral or level-headed, and outright tells her husband to kill the men responsible.
Outliving One's Offspring: In Season 5. Her unborn child suffers fatal injuries after she is injured in a car wreck while in labor and rushing to the hospital. The resulting trauma and grief motivates much of the subsequent episodes.
Parent with New Paramour: Briefly separates from Kayce and starts dating her physical therapist, Martin, in Season 2. This doesn't last long, and the duo get back together soon after.
Shameful Strip: Gets accused of shoplifting at one point and is forced to undergo a strip-search by the cops, though Beth steps in to help her before anything else happens.

Tate Dutton

Portrayed by: Brecken Merrill

The son of Kayce and Monica Dutton, Tate takes a greater interest in the ranch's activities as the show starts.

Children Are Innocent: A large number of plotlines are motivated by the fact that, being a little boy with little understanding of anything beyond the reservation's borders, John and other characters elect to teach him more about the cowboy life, invoking plenty of As You Know dialogue for his (and the audience's) benefit.
The Load: By virtue of the fact that he's just a kid, he has several opportunities to be placed into danger, necessitating others step in to save him. During the first two seasons alone, he's nearly swept away by a river, nearly gets bitten by a rattlesnake (forcing him to fight it alone, in a drainage ditch) and gets kidnapped by the Becks, requiring John and the others to rescue him.
Trauma Conga Line: The kid just can't catch a break, witnessing his mother get injured multiple times (first by an errant punch thrown by a student that causes a serious concussion in Season 1, and later witnessing his mother lose his unborn brother in the Season 5 opener), gets kidnapped by members of the Montana Free Militia, is forced to shoot down another Militia member that was strangling his mother during an attack on the ranch, and has to struggle through a messy separation that takes up the majority of Season 2 and culminates in him screaming at his parents during a fight.

Lee Dutton

Portrayed by: Dave Annable

Sacrificial Lion: His death during the shootout over the Duttons' stolen cattle serves to show just how brutal life at the Yellowstone Ranch can be.
Spirit Advisor: In Season 4, he appears as an apparition to Kayce during the latter's vision quest given to him by the Broken Rock Tribe.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: As the series begins, he's practically idolized by every member of the family — but he also makes it clear to John that he has no interest in being a cattle-baron, instead preferring to enjoy the simple life of a cowboy.
We Hardly Knew Ye: Dies in the first episode, "Daybreak," during a gunfight over the Duttons' stolen cattle.
White Sheep: Outside of Kayce, he seems to be the only other member of the Dutton clan who's treated with utmost respect by every other sibling, being the oldest in the family.

Yellowstone Ranch Associates

Rip Wheeler

Portrayed by: Cole Hauser

The lead ranch-hand at Yellowstone, Rip functionally keeps the other wranglers in line, and deals with ever-present threats in the area.

Apologetic Attacker: In Season 4, he apologizes to Lloyd on two separate occasions before beating the latter senseless, due to the latter cultivating a senseless grudge against Walker over Laramie.
Asskicking Leads to Leadership: As part of the hypermasculine mindset, anyone who crosses a line at the ranch gets a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown from him to set an example for the other wranglers. This is even invoked in Season 3, where Rip has to intentionally "lose" a fight against Kayce so that the wranglers will accept the latter as their new boss.
Big Damn Heroes: Shows up to rescue Beth in the nick of time from a hitsquad sent by the Beck brothers (even getting shot twice in the process) in the second season.
Cannot Spit It Out: How his connection with Beth is shown at the beginning of the series; they dated as teens, but he's refrained from getting close to her, even though he's completely smitten with her and initially taken aback at her dating other men. It takes him rescuing her from Beck's men before he can finally admit how he feels about her.
The Determinator: His character in a nutshell — he is utterly ruthless in his pursuit of protecting the ranch from thieves, intruders and other threats, up to and including shrugging off serious injuries sustained in the line of work.
Hair-Trigger Temper: It doesn't take much to get him going, and he can be seen routinely snapping at Jimmy (telling him to "shut the fuck up"), Lloyd (in Season 4)... or anything else that draws his ire.
Happiness in Slavery: This is a big part of Rip's personality. He is essentially John's lifelong slave, but he's totally fine with this and is completely loyal to John, mostly because he had nowhere else to go. Getting to be in a relationship with Beth is also likely a big reason.
Hidden Heart of Gold: He may be utterly ruthless (up to and including murdering people at John's request)... but put him in a room with either Beth or other children, and he completely melts.
Made of Iron: Rip is the toughest person on the ranch and has never lost a fight. He even accidentally kills someone in a fight in a flashback, which binds him to the ranch.
Major Injury Underreaction: As invoked when he comments on the bullet wounds he sustained saving Beth from Beck's men — "Like hell... but I was built to go through hell."
O.O.C. Is Serious Business: His relationship with Beth, which is an open secret around the ranch. Their courtship and wedding is full of this, as he's completely uneasy about the situation, even admitting his fears to Lloyd (who serves as best man).
Start of Darkness: His ruthless tendencies were motivated by a childhood trauma he suffered, where he killed his father after the latter killed the rest of his family. This, combined with his respect for John (who took him in and treated him like a son) has effectively made him The Dragon for the ranch's operations, keeping the other wranglers in line. He has no problem killing people in cold blood.
The Dragon: He is John Dutton's right hand man, and will do whatever it takes to protect the ranch, including killing people in cold blood. As seen in the show, Rip has never lost a fight and is arguably the toughest man on the ranch. Even when fighting Kayce, whose ex-military, it's implied that Rip let him win.
Undying Loyalty: His key character trait — he's willing to do anything to protect both John (who considers him to be Like a Son to Me) and the ranch — and as later episodes show, he extends the same ideal to Beth, who he marries and promises to protect for the rest of her life.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: He has constantly been seeking approval from John since the latter took him in as a teen, and even accepts a demotion to a rank-and-file wrangler in Season 2 when John wants to give Kayce the experience necessary to lead the ranch. John rewards Rip by the end of the season with a house of his own, telling Beth after the fact that he knows very well (despite her initial anger towards John over the matter) who has been loyal to him from the get-go.

Jimmy Hurdstrom

Portrayed by: Jefferson White

A troubled adult who is conscripted by Rip (even getting branded in the process) to work as a ranch-hand at Yellowstone, establishing the clan's need to help wayward individuals. As the seasons continue, he learns the ways of wrangling and confronts his own future and career.

Book Dumb: By his (and the wranglers') admission, he's "as dumb as a box of rocks", but makes up for it with a lot of enthusiasm and drive to better himself and make something out of his life.
Butt-Monkey: Starts out as the "low-man" at the ranch, being forced to take on the most menial and humiliating jobs and being treated as a pariah by the rest of the wranglers. As the seasons continue, though, he starts to gain more maturity and experience, leading to his Earn Your Happy Ending moment below.
Determinator: He gets repeatedly insulted and belittled (and even beaten by a larger man at one point) by other wranglers, but continues to persevere, despite a near-fatal neck injury and a stretch of time working at another ranch in Texas.
Earn Your Happy Ending: Gets one of the most pronounced changes out of any character in the series. After he's nearly killed during the rodeo-riding accident, John sends him to Texas to apprentice at the Four-Sixes Ranch, telling him it's the last chance he'll give him. Once there, Jimmy starts to seriously take his life choices into consideration (helped by the considerate wranglers at the ranch), works hard to become a cowboy and meets Emily (who loves him for who he is and not for who he might become), even getting engaged to her in the process. When he returns to Yellowstone, his new confidence and competence quickly earn him the respect of the other ranch hands. He impresses John so much that the latter forgives any obligations that Jimmy still has toward the Duttons and tells him to go back to Texas where he can be happy in his new life.
The Heart: The other characters don’t see him as such, but viewers might. Of all the main characters, he’s the only one who never bullies anyone else and/or directly takes a life. His entire character arc is trying to become the best man he can be, and being bullied for it the entire time.
I Coulda Been a Contender!: Played with. In Seasons 3 and 4, he expresses interest in rodeo-riding, and even has Lloyd spot him the cash (and Mia support him behind-the-scenes) to enter a riding contest. The resulting experience causes a near-fatal neck injury, his reputation to be left in tatters and Mia to functionally abandon him in his hour of need. John later tells him to give up the sport, and despite his efforts to continue, he finally realizes his efforts were for naught when Rip brings him to a professional rodeo contest, where he sees just how big the difference is with professional riders, and elects to pursue a different path.
Love at First Sight: Happens with Mia, and a couple seasons later, with Emily at the Four-Sixes Ranch.
Took a Level in Badass: His time at the Four-Sixes in Season 4 not only leads him to become a more mature, level-headed individual (even shepherding a relationship that turns into an engagement), but his training gives him the confidence to take part in difficult herding operations without any complaint whatsoever. By the time he shows up at the Dutton ranch again, he's an extremely-skilled roper who shows up the rest of the wranglers.
Training from Hell: Being the "low-man" at the ranch, he gets roped into a number of humiliating tasks, including planting dynamite with Rip and an associate in the pilot to deny Jenkins area advantage against the ranch, being duct-taped to a wild stallion for hours (and being harassed by Fred when he's too tired to take a shower) and getting mocked by other wranglers when his own horse flips him off during a task to herd numerous bulls back to the ranch. With the exception of Lloyd, nearly everyone mocks and insults him for his first few weeks on the ranch, and still bully him long afterwards.
- Deconstructed. None of the training Jimmy receives at Yellowstone actually teaches him anything, and he mostly has to figure things out on his own. It's only after he's sent to Four-Sixes Ranch, where the ranchers are much more patient and considerate, that he becomes a competent rancher.

Colby

Portrayed by: Denim Richards

A seasoned wrangler at the ranch, alongside his close friend Ryan.

Ship Tease: Despite him acting aloof and dismissive of the situation, Teeter is instantly attracted to him and makes it known from the get-go, often flirting with him in front of the other wranglers (much to his chagrin). The third season hints that they may become a couple, as he is shown having to rescue her after their encoutner with Wade Morrow at a river near the ranch.
Those Two Guys: Acts as one half of the show's designated "comedic duo", who are often shown commenting on various events happening around the ranch.

Lloyd Pierce

Portrayed by: Forrie J Smith

The most senior of the ranchhands, and a long-time employee at the Dutton ranch.

Bully Hunter: A flashback in Season 2 shows him step up to protect the teenaged Rip after the latter deals with hazing at the ranch, with it being suggested he's fulfilled this role to protect other youngsters at the ranch.
Cool Old Guy: He garners the utmost respect amongst the other wranglers at the ranch, due to the fact that he's a highly-skilled roper who hasn't lost a step and can keep up with men half his age.
May–December Romance: With Laramie, briefly, in Season 4. This ends once Lloyd more-or-less convinces her to start dating Walker.
Took a Level in Jerkass: He spends half of the fourth season acting irrationally towards Walker after the latter hooks up with Laramie, despite her being the one who initiated it (though, Walker was in the wrong for rubbing it in). He becomes increasingly ostracized from the other ranchers, and even starts a fight after Walker tries to give him a peace offering. His behavior gets so bad that it interferes with his work, and he gets busted down to the "low-man" role by Rip until he can get himself back together. Lloyd ends up stabbing Walker non-fatally, leading Rip to initiate a brawl between both men to settle the matter. The only thing that stops him from going "to the train station" is that he's a longtime and loyal employee to the ranch and father figure and mentor to Rip.
Took a Level in Kindness: After the Walker feud (noted above), Lloyd pawns his expensive and rare belt buckle for an acoustic guitar, which he offers to Walker as a peace offering.
Undying Loyalty: Like Rip, he holds John in the utmost respect, and everything he does (up to and including murder) is to protect the latter's interests.

Ryan

Portrayed By: Ian Bohen

Along with Colby, one of the most seasoned wranglers at the ranch, as well as a Livestock Agent working for John Dutton at the beginning of the series.

Field Promotion: Gets bumped up to a full-time Livestock Agent/deputized in Season 2, after John requests more involvement from him to help investigate the mysterious deaths of cattle caused by the clover bales (dropped by the Beck brothers).
The Main Characters Do Everything: Interestingly, he's the only character outside the main Dutton family who has his fingers in multiple roles, both as a rancher and a Livestock Agent. He's generally present any time John (and later, Kayce) need a backup for a job, and he's almost-always seen taking an active role in most (if not all) of the ranch's various duties.
Relationship Upgrade: With Abby, a country singer he meets at a bar early in Season 5, who initially expresses reluctance dating him after having a history of dating cowboys who are Married to the Job. Once they get together, however, this becomes a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy when their relationship fizzles out when he accepts a long-term job to help move half of the Dutton ranch's cattle south in order to protect them from a viral strain, which leads to her dumping him.
Start of Darkness: The plot of Season 2 is motivated by him realizing that all his efforts to stay "legit" haven't helped him, when Rip and several of the branded ranchers (including Lloyd and Jimmy) are able to take part in operations that they directly sway him from participating in. This causes a (short-lived) schism with Colby when Ryan decides to take the brand.

Walker

Portrayed By: Ryan Bingham

An ex-con and former wrangler who joins the Dutton crew early in the first season, and runs into friction with Rip over the state of the ranch's... less desirable activities.

The Bus Came Back: After departing the ranch (with Kayce's blessing) in Season 2, he is seen again in Season 3, where Rip and Lloyd stumble across him while on their way back from releasing a wild horse. He is eventually brought back to the ranch and swayed to continue working there, and becomes an integral part of the bunkhouse starting from the end of the same season.
Five Rounds Rapid: When the Montana Free Militia attacks the bunkhouse at the beginning of Season 4, he walks out of the building wielding a shotgun, proceeding to utilize this trope against the nearest attacker.
Ironic Fear: Walker is a convicted felon. You would think that he would have no problem with the nefarious activities that occur on the ranch, but he's quickly unnerved and wants out.
Only Sane Man: Many times Walker is the lone voice of reason, and quickly understands that the ranch is not a place ran by morally upstanding people.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: He makes multiple attempts to leave the ranch, first gracefully, then nearly at blows with Rip, who threatens that any attempt at leaving (as a "branded man") will lead to reprisal. The only reason he escapes getting sent to the "train station" is due to Kayce interceding just before Rip is set to drive away with him, and offers the latter a deal to walk free in exchange for keeping his mouth shut about the ranch's dealings.
Spotting the Thread: He's far sharper than the rest of the wranglers, and one of his key attributes is that he's able to spot problems or act on very little information. When Kayce drives him to the "train station" and lets him go, Walker is shown to be wielding a switchblade just under the seat, fearing that the latter will try to execute him. At the end of Season 4, in response to Beth asking him about prison visits, Walker is able to quickly figure out (and tell Rip) that she's trying to arrange a conjugal visit so she can kill someone — which turns out to be correct.
Took a Level in Badass: By the time the fourth season rolls around, he's become fully immersed in the ranch's dealings, personally cutting the brand out of Wade Morrow and then utilizing a rifle to defend the bunkhouse from the militia in the opening of Season 4.

Avery

Portrayed By: Tanaya Beatty

A former stripper who dabbles in colt-raising, leading her to be recruited by Rip late in Season 1 to help the ranch during their feud with Jenkins.

The Bus Came Back: After disappearing for unexplained reasons midway through Season 2, she returns for two episodes in Season 4 (and as a vision in the season finale), where she explains where she's been and why she left the ranch.
Green-Eyed Monster: To say that Monica is jealous of her is putting it VERY lightly. This is not without reason, as it is VERY obvious Avery is in love with Kacey.
The Lad-ette: Like Teeter, she's a hard-drinking wrangler who thinks nothing of difficult ranching operations, is the last person to stand up during the game of "cowboy poker", and proves to be just as tough a rancher as any other member of the staff, being able to hold her own during a Bar Brawl.
Love at First Sight: When Kayce meets her in Season 4, she reveals that this happened to her when she first saw him, and that she left the ranch because it threatened to impact her job.
Made of Iron: Despite her fragile appearance, she's extremely tough and able to hold her own in a fight, gets bowled over by a rushing bull with no ill effect during the game of "cowboy poker", and claims that she's made a career out of "fighting off men" in her past job at the local strip club.
Ms. Fanservice: She's an ex-stripper who has no qualms whatsoever about stripping in front of other men — but she also makes it clear that she won't tolerate any lecherous behavior in the bunkhouse, threatening to cut off the equipment of any man that dares get off in front of her while she's sleeping.
Nice Girl: A genuine example, if her interactions with Jimmy are anything to go by. It's subtlety implied she leaves the ranch is season two because she feels guilty about Jimmy's situation.
Odd Friendship: With Jimmy. Despite their differences, Avery is the only person at the ranch (besides Lloyd) who is actually nice to Jimmy, and they have a budding, platonic friendship in season two.
Spirit Advisor: She appears in this form during Kayce's vision quest at the end of Season 4, specifically to calm him down after a concerning encounter with his brother.
What Happened to the Mouse?: She disappears from the bunkhouse midway through Season 2 with no explanation, as none of the ranchers seem to know where she went and her reason for leaving is never explained. Season 4 brings her back into the fold when Kayce runs into her while searching for a herd of missing cattle, and she finally reveals the reason for her departure.

Cowboy

Portrayed By: Steven Williams

A "day-worker" who appears in Season 2, as a temporary rancher who joins the Dutton ranch to earn some extra money.

Cool Old Guy: Despite being a day-worker with no prior connections to any of the other ranchers, he seems to get along with everyone, particularly Jimmy and Jamie, who he works alongside on several occasions.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He is only ever referred to (and gives his name) as "Cowboy", despite prodding from the other wranglers.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once he realizes that Rip and Kayce are bringing together several "branded men" to avenge the death of Jimmy's grandfather by killing those responsible, he immediately packs his bags and beats feet out of the ranch for parts unknown — but not before telling Colby to do the same, as he's well-aware of what kind of people the Duttons are.
Spotting the Thread: He immediately recognizes what kind of a threat the Duttons are, particularly when he sees how Walker has been ostracized by the rest of the wranglers for not wanting to get involved in any violence, but doesn't say anything because he just wants to get paid. When it becomes clear that several of the branded men are going to be taking part in an illegal activity, he immediately packs his bags and leaves.

Teeter

Portrayed By: Jennifer Landon

A wrangler who joins the Dutton ranch in Season 3, and proves to be an extremely-capable ranchhand who can keep up with the rest of the cowboys.

Badass in Distress: In Season 3, both she and Colby nearly drown after being antagonized by Wade Morrow and his crew (while the pair were in the process of skinny-dipping, no less). When Colby finds her after the fact, he learns that her forehead has been slashed open by the rocks in the river during the encounter, forcing him to perform an impromptu operation to sanitize and staple the wound closed.
Intelligible Unintelligible: She speaks in an extremely-thick Texan accent and slurs most of her words together, causing many characters (including Rip and Colby) to not understand what she's saying. Lloyd and a select few others can understand her perfectly fine, however.
The Lad-ette: In a bunkhouse full of hard-living cowboys, Teeter can hang with the best of them, as she's extremely prone to drinking (rarely being seen without a can of beer or glass of whiskey in her hand during her downtime) and is a highly-skilled roper who can more than carry her weight during ranching operations.
Only Known by Their Nickname: She only ever identifies herself as "Teeter", and never gives her real name to any of the other wranglers.
Relationship Upgrade: Season 3 implies that she does this with Colby (coupled with Intimate Healing) after the latter rescues her after Wade Morrow's attack. Seasons 4 and 5 only reinforce this, with both hanging out and dancing with each other at repeated points, though it's never explicitly stated.

Wheatley

Portrayed By: Taylor Sheridan

An expert horse breeder and trainer who John partners with when he wants to start raising horses.

The Friendly Texan: Wheatley is shown to get along with everyone he interacts with on the Yellowstone, especially Rip. When Jimmy makes a bet with him over a Reining competition that he's nowhere near skilled enough to win he is perfectly willing to let Jimmy keep his money and only takes it when Rip insists to teach Jimmy a lesson. He gets short with Jimmy at several points in season 4 when he makes mistakes but encourages his growth and stays on friendly terms with him.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: His treatment of Jimmy in season 4 is a rude at times, but at worst he's short when Jimmy asks a stupid question and ultimately congratulates Jimmy on his growth and reminisces with by the end of the season.

Carter

Portrayed By: Finn Little

A juvenile delinquent who Beth takes a liking to, and has him work on the Dutton ranch as a stall cleaner in order to teach him about responsibility.

Disproportionate Retribution: Ends up on the receiving end of some unusual punishment by Beth and Rip in Season 4, ostensibly because the latter caught him looking into a car (presumably because he was planning to rob it), in an effort to teach him Tough Love. He's forced to spend his nights in the main barn (even during winter conditions), is only ever referred to as "boy" by Rip and the wranglers (who claim, more than once, that he's "not going to be sticking around long"), gets talked down to repeatedly by several people, and is all but a pariah at the ranch. It's suggested that this is the same treatment Rip himself had when he was a teenager. Even when he tries to make amends with Beth by giving her flowers, she tells him to take them back, leading him to attempt to go back into foster care.
Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep":
- According to him, his father would only refer to him as "Chubby" — a nickname that stuck, even though he notes that he's now much thinner.
- All of the wranglers at the Dutton ranch, including Rip, only ever refer to him as "boy" — both because they're not particularly interested in a delinquent who they (initially) believe won't be sticking around long anyway, and because Rip is trying to teach Carter with Tough Love in an attempt to break his pattern of delinquency.
I Got Bigger: He gets at least a foot taller between the fourth and fifth seasons (via Time Skip) and becomes much skinner, leading John to reference this trope after they see each other for the first time after the successful Governor campaign.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Ends up on the receiving end of this multiple times by Beth, who repeatedly chastizes him for not having the skills or maturity necessary to survive alone.
Troubled Teen: When Beth first meets him, it's revealed that his father is at death's door due to a history of drug usage, and it's influenced how Carter acts, as he has a history of delinquency (as well as implied that he was assaulted at a group foster home).

Broken Rock Reservation

Chief Thomas Rainwater

Portrayed by: Gil Birmingham

The chief of the Broken Rock Reservation, one of the primary entities working against the Duttons throughout the series.

Always a Bigger Fish: All his attempts to build a casino on the site of the Yellowstone Ranch are functionally (and effortlessly) thwarted midway through Season 3, when Market Equities shows up and has his proposal 86'd in a matter of days. This indirectly leads him to ally with the Duttons against a common threat.
Awesome Moment of Crowning: His establishing moment is made of this, as he brings in a Senator specifically for the purpose of watching his coronation ceremony as the new Chief of the Broken Rock Tribe, complete with the presentation and donning of the ceremonial headdress.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: Starts out the series in this way, having indirectly organized an attack that led to the death of Lee Dutton. Rainwater combines this trope with Corrupt Bureaucrat as both the manager of an Indian casino and the chief of the Broken Rock Reservation, which has its own government. He's ruthless in his quest to take his tribe's land back from the American government by using any dirty trick at his disposal.
Enemy Mine: More-or-less gives up the fight with the Duttons in Season 3 so they can pool their resources and go after Market Equities together.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: Relaxes his antagonistic attitudes towards the Duttons at several points to help them against common enemies, including their fight against the Becks and Market Equities, and him delegating resources to help the family rescue Kayce and Monica's son Tate from a white supremacist compound.
Hypocrite: Early on in the first season, after he's arrested in connection for his plan to steal the livestock from the Dutton farm (and waxes on about the indignities his people have faced historically), he gets called out by John while in lockup due to the fact that he (Rainwater) is a Corrupt Corporate Executive that spent the last two decades working a high-powered job, making his claims that he's being marginalized when he did the exact same thing to other parties (via his work in Mergers and Acquisitions) hollow.
Jurisdiction Friction: Frequently runs into friction with John and the Duttons due to the latter holding on to land he considers the property of the Broken Rock Tribe — even holding a splashy press conference to say he's taking the land back for the tribe.
Morality Pet: No matter what he thinks of the rest of the Duttons or how much he hates the fact that they own a massive tract of land, he holds Kayce (Monica's husband, and functionally an honorary member of the tribe) in high esteem, advising him at numerous points and treating him more like a nephew than anything else.
Pragmatic Villainy: In a nutshell. He hates the Duttons for holding on to land he considers to have been stolen from his tribe — but once the chips are down and they both have to deal with outside threats, he makes it clear that he'll help them do what is necessary to repel the threat.

Mo

Portrayed By: Mo Brings Plenty

Chief Rainwater's enforcer and driver, who begins to gain a greater degree of respect for the Duttons as the series progresses.

Ascended Extra: He starts the series as a silent second-in-command for Rainwater, whose main role is to show up and look threatening at various meetings. From the second season onwards, he gets much more development and dialogue, including his presence during the final fight against the Militia at the end of Season 2 and his rescue of Monica during the Honey Trap operation in Season 3. By the time Season 5 rolls along, he's been Promoted to Opening Credits.
Back-to-Back Badasses: With Kayce, during the storming of the Militia compound at the end of Season 2.
Dark and Troubled Past: The audience learns in Season 3 that he has a personal connection to the spate of abductions that have plagued the Broken Rock Tribe in the past, as his own mother was kidnapped from her vehicle when he was just a baby (leaving him trapped in a car seat for three days until he was rescued).
Guest-Star Party Member: Rainwater dispatches him to help the Duttons take down the Beck brothers and the Montana Free Militia's base of operations at the end of Season 2, just hours before the operation begins.
The Lancer: Starts out in this way, being a silent driver and second-in-command for Rainwater who has next-to-no lines in the first season, and whose presence is more-or-less meant to drive discomfort for those who meet him. Subsequent seasons delve further into his backstory, along with making his place in the Tribe much clearer, as he assists the Duttons several times on Rainwater's orders, along with getting more dialogue making his connection with the Tribe's Chairman (a position he's held with more than one occupant) much clearer.
Worthy Opponent: Despite his intolerance for the Duttons owning land that used to belong to the Broken Rock Tribe, Mo comments in the Season 3 premiere that he has come to greatly respect John, as the latter "had honor when others would not" during the operation against the Beck brothers at the end of the previous season.

Angela Blue Thunder

Portrayed By: Q'orianka Kilcher

A cutthroat attorney who is called in by Rainwater to help thwart Market Equities' plans to build a hotel and residential development in the Yellowstone valley.

Commuting on a Bus: She appears for nearly the entirety of Season 3, then disappears for no clear reason once the "summit" to decide the fate of the ranch is held at the end of Season 3. She is then absent for the entirety of Season 4 before reappearing at the start of the following season, with the plot acting like she'd been there all along.
The Dreaded: Whether it's due to her nature as The Fixer or some other unexplained part of her heritage, Mo considers her to be "evil", and is actively seen attempting a traditional smudging ceremony (in order to drive said evil away) before she shows up in Rainwater's office for the first time in Season 3. Given her in-universe reputation and her connections with many of the reservation's elders, it's implied that she's done things in the past that he considers beyond the pale.
Enemy Civil War: Initiates this against Rainwater in Season 5 after realizing that the latter's waffling on various development projects (and the controversy and drama it's caused within the reservation) has left the tribe no better off than when it started.
The Fixer: Gets called in by Rainwater in order to throw up roadblocks in an attempt to impede Market Equities' plans to build in the region.
Friendly Enemy: Angela is Beth's Distaff Counterpart — a ruthless fixer who is willing to use any means necessary to protect the people under her watch. They even work briefly together in Season 3 as part of the scheme to destabilize Market Equities, though their interactions are largely filled with barbs.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: It's not entirely clear whose side she's working on, as she is just as antagonistic towards her own Reservation as she is the Duttons. She hates what the "outsiders" like the Duttons and out-of-state residents have done to the valley, but she is just as critical (if not openly hostile) towards Rainwater and Mo, both for failing to adequately secure her people's land and getting into petty squabbles that leave them no further ahead than when she started. Come Season 5, and she's permanently allied herself with the Ministry of the Interior to have them build two pipelines through the reservation, kicking off an Enemy Civil War.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Delivers two blistering speeches to Rainwater in Season 3, accusing both him (and the Broken Rock tribe, by proxy) of failing to do enough to secure their land, necessitating the help of outsiders like the Duttons to help protect their own legacy.

Antagonists

Dan Jenkins

Portrayed By: Danny Huston

Appears in Seasons 1 and 2 as the head of the Paradise Valley capital developments firm, based in California. As the series begins, Jenkins intends to build a condo development on Yellowstone, using every trick he can think of to destabilize the family's interests in the region.

Arch-Enemy: Outside of Rainwater, he's one of the key overarching threats to the Dutton family's ranch and livelihood, serving as a key antagonist over the first two seasons.
Didn't Think This Through: His entire plan to build Paradise Valley revolves around repeated instances of this. He shows up in Montana deadset on building a few golf courses and a couple properties, but is confronted with a force that uses all manner of tricks, including area denial, subterfuge and physical intimidation to get him to back down. (Though trying to run John Dutton off the road with a tractor-trailer that subsequently caused a pileup didn't help his case.) When this doesn't work, he decides to bury them in lawsuits with the help of The Fixer — but this immediately goes south when he's kidnapped and slowly hanged by Rip and the rest of the wranglers, only escaping death because they showed mercy and cut him down. Even after all this, he refuses to back down, even getting weapons training at one point (and nearly being shot when Ryan mistakes him for a genuine threat) in an attempt to protect himself.
Emasculated Cuckold: One of the key scenes involving his character involves him showing up at home to find Beth waiting outside, who coolly informs him that she doesn't want to smoke in the living room. When he walks inside, he finds his wife stripping and dancing with another man on the terrace — and looks on dispassionately before walking back out, causing Beth to comment on this trope.
Even Evil Has Standards: During his sit-down with John and Rainwater in Season 2 (where they form an Enemy Mine against the Becks), he comments on this, noting that while he's tried to go after John's interests, he's never threatened a member of the latter's family (nor Rainwater's) directly, nor tried to kill any of them.
Last Stand: Against a group of militia hitmen at the end of Season 2 who raid his compound. He doesn't make it.
Sore Loser: By the end of the second season, he's been reduced to a blubbering wreck who alternates between trying to protect himself and inelegantly trying to get the Duttons off his back, either by ineffectually threatening them or trying to get them to buy his remaining properties. The fact that he's more-or-less shoved out of Rainwater's casino development deal before his death in the Season 2 finale doesn't help matters, either.
Villain Decay: Starts out in the pilot episode who is a hyper-competent businessman who represents the most clear and present threat to the Dutton's way of life. From the second episode onwards, his motives and personality degrade, often causing him to be viewed as weak and ineffectual in the face of an overwhelming force (to the point that he's made to be an Emasculated Cuckold).

Sarah Nguyen

Portrayed By: Michaela Conlin

A freelance reporter who is dispatched by her employer in New York to write a story on corruption in Montana, eventually liaising with Jamie in an attempt to root out the Dutton clan's stranglehold on Montana.

Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She initially presents herself as a mild-mannered campaign staffer (albeit pretending to be one, as she's actually a freelance journalist) who convinces Jamie and Christina to let her write a story about his campaign for Attorney General by framing it as being part of a larger story on "the new Montana". When she realizes she hasn't got the scoop she wants and Jamie wants to retract his statements, she drops the act and delivers a Motive Rant where she threatens to cause enough noise for authorities to swoop in and claim the ranch under eminent domain laws, citing that his family shouldn't have that much land in the first place.
Chekhov's Gunman: Starts out as a seemingly-unimportant tourist with her girlfriend, who are visiting Montana to enjoy some downtime in the state. Her appearance as an apparently-random campaign staffer at Jamie's office spoils that there's more to her than she lets on, and she eventually reveals herself to be a reporter doing a story that involves the Duttons.
Didn't Think This Through: Under the guise of requesting more information for her story, Sarah meets Jamie on a backroad that's devoid of people, located right near the river, and shows up in a vehicle that has all her canoeing gear conveniently mounted on it. She then decides that it would be a great idea to antagonize a guy who she believes to be spineless (up to and including threatening his family and the safety of his ranch) by claiming she's going to ruin his reputation, even delivering a Motive Rant in the process. No points for what happens next.
Distracted by the Sexy: She convinces her girlfriend to let her stay in Montana longer than she planned (after the latter decides to head back to New York on her own) by dramatically dropping her towel after she'd just stepped out of the shower, before stalking off and threatening to withhold intimacy from the latter.
Make It Look Like an Accident: Rip and Jamie stage her death as a boating accident, via loading her into the canoe still strapped to her car and setting it down the Yellowstone river with her phone on her.

The Beck Brothers

Malcolm and Teal Beck

Portrayed By: Neal McDonough and Terry Serpico

Asshole Victim: Compared to the unsympathetic but ultimately rather harmless Dan Jenkins, these two are completely ruthless and outright evil; and them getting killed is little more than their just deserts
Mugging the Monster: Their attempts to intimidate and strongarm the Duttons into doing what they want ultimately ends up as this - they're so used to getting their way without much pushback through their ruthlessness and bullying tactics, that they're caught completely flat-footed when someone actually fights back.
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Malcolm is aggressive, easy to anger and has at times poor self control; while Teal is comparatively calm.
Would Hit a Girl: They order an outright hit on Beth - presumably to scare her into submission, but given how their hitmen act, they don't seem to have any lines they aren't supposed to cross short of killing her (and even that isn't certain).
Would Hurt a Child: Unsurprisingly, they also don't have any problems with using child hostages as leverage; and given how they handled the Beth issue, they might have considered said hostage dying a perfectly acceptable outcome.

Garrett Randall

Portrayed By: Will Patton

A machinist (and former inmate) who is revealed to have a surprising connection to Jamie Dutton. Introduced in the latter half of Season 3.

It's Personal: It's suggested repeatedly that he has an irrational hatred of John due to the latter having done something in the past that caused them to have a schism. Season 4 suggests that John's adoption of Jamie, and Garrett's criminal past being due to John not defending him in court, led him to hire the Montana Free Militia to begin a campaign of war against the Duttons.
The Man Behind the Man: The entirety of the Montana Free Militia's campaign against the Duttons in Season 2 is revealed to be a result of his machinations, due to the matter being a personal vendetta.
Metaphorically True: Compared to John's view of the situation (where he looks at Garrett as an unrepentant criminal who has no redeeming qualities), Garrett claims that his murder of Phyllis Randall was necessary, as he discovered her ignoring her child while "servicing" a client, having fallen into rampant drug use and prostitution, while the infant Jamie was crying out for food and attempting to use a methpipe. When confronted by a character about the situation, he claims I Did What I Had to Do.
So Proud of You: He repeatedly tells his son, Jamie that he's immensely proud of how much he's accomplished as a politician and as a father with his new child.
Suicide by Cop: He functionally allows Jamie to shoot him in the head at the end of Season 4, having realized that the Duttons have manipulated the latter into Blackmail. His dialogue during this scene (where he has packed his bags, is sitting by a river at Jamie's new property, and makes multiple comments about "going somewhere" and telling his son he loves him, suggests that he was fully aware he was going to die.
Walking Spoiler: Many of his character moments are tied to revelations in the fourth season involving one of the main characters.
"Well Done, Son" Guy: Jamie is his biological son (having been adopted by John as a child after Garrett was imprisoned for killing his wife), and is immensely proud to see how much his son has accomplished, particularly within his political career. Their final conversation at the end of Season 4 is full of this behavior.

Montana politicians and officials

Governor Lynelle Perry

Lynelle Perry

Portrayed By: Wendy Moniz

The Chains of Commanding: She emphasizes at several points during the series, both to John and Jamie, how difficult the role of a Governor is, and how decisions made have the potential to negatively impact thousands (or tens of thousands) of residents beyond her initial projections.
Field Promotion: She's upped to the role of a Senator by Season 5, with John taking over her former role as Governor.
The Lost Lenore: She makes several references to her husband, who died unexpectedly years earlier, throughout the series. It's implied that this forms part of her relationship dynamic with John, as they entered into a relationship with each to Pair the Spares, due to both having spouses who died young.
Undying Loyalty: She is the only government official who is consistently and unambiguously on the Dutton's side (hinted in Season 4 to be due to the fact that John's influence played a large part of how she got the job in the first place). As such, she always supports members of the family, both in terms of supporting Jamie's campaign to become Attorney General and advising John on how to act as Governor in Season 5.

Christina

Portrayed By: Katherine Cunningham

A staffer assigned to Jamie Dutton's Attorney General campaign by Governor Perry during the first season, Christina ultimately falls in love with him.

Commuting on a Bus: After fleeing the state of Montana in Season 2, she shows up midway through Season 4, now with Jamie's child in tow. She stays at his house until the end of Season 4 before disappearing again, and is not living at Jamie's house, nor is referenced by him at any point during Season 5.
It's All About Me: It's implied that the whole reason she got close with Jamie and seduced him is to further her own career, as she immediately kicks him out of her apartment (after several weeks of otherwise-relaxed cohabitation) when he tells her he's dropping his quest to become Attorney General.
Lady Macbeth: The first notable example in the series. She seduces Jamie at a moment of weakness by telling him that he's better than his family, and inspiring him to do better. Midway through Season 2, when Jamie ultimately decides to abandon his campaign for Attorney General, she lights into him, accusing of him not doing enough to further her own career and blasting him for being no better than his family, before abruptly kicking him out of her apartment.
Love at First Sight: Implied, as Governor Perry notices her instant attraction to him and ultimately tells him in private after the fact that they would make a good couple. However, given Christina's Lady Macbeth and It's All About Me, it ultimately becomes unclear if she genuinely loved him, or if it was an act to further her own agenda.
Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Once she realizes that the Duttons had Sarah Nguyen's death made to look like a boating accident, and fearing for her own safety because of what she knows, she tells Jamie that she's immediately fleeing the state for parts unknown to raise his child.
Spotting the Thread: Given her status as Jamie's campaign manager, she is usually the first to spot instances of duplicity or misrepresentation, exemplified when she catches on that Sarah Nguyen (working undercover as a staffer) isn't who she says she is long before the latter drops the act and tells her who she is.

Sheriff Donnie Haskell

Portrayed By: Hugh Dillon

The Sheriff of Park County, who maintains a cordial (if sometimes frosty) connection to John Dutton based on their mutual pasts.

Corrupt Cop: To note — he's full of this, but he's firmly on the Dutton's side. That is, when he's not allying with other forces working against them.
A Death in the Limelight: He dies towards the end of Season 4, during a diner robbery gone wrong, and his final moments are shown talking to Rip and John and trying to call his daughter in a panic — revealing a side of him that was never seen before this moment.
The Gambling Addict: Season 2 reveals that he's in debt to the Beck brothers, because they've paid off his gambling debts — but are holding it over his head in order to keep local law enfocement compliant with their wishes.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: At times, he's either actively stymieing the Duttons (as seen when he pockets evidence that could exonerate Rip after the latter shot a grizzly bear) or liaising with other forces he's in league with (the Becks in Season 2, after he becomes beholden to them due to bad gambling debts).

Market Equities

Willa Hayes

Portrayed By: Karen Pittman

The CEO of Market Equities, a large consortium intent on buying out several properties in Montana, including Yellowstone Ranch, to fund a major airport and housing project. One of the primary antagonists of Season 3.

Affably Evil: Like several of the ME executives, she is initially cordial to her enemies, even complimenting them at several points — but this masks a ruthless streak that leads her to go on the warpath against the Duttons.
Didn't Think This Through: As a result of her machinations, Market Equities gobbles up Schwartz & Meyer's controlling interest, leading Willa to coldly fire Beth while antagonizing her at several points. She clearly didn't expect to have Beth hit back by instigating a false sexual harassment claim from a former employee, which publicly smears her reputation and forces her to flee the state in shame. As a result of this, her successor (Caroline) has to completely change gears in order to ingratiate herself with Beth.
Put on a Bus: Flees for parts unknown at the end of the third season, but not before Beth screws up her career via a false sexual harassment claim.
Villain Respect: The audacity of Beth's plan to short Market Equities' stock is so brazen that Willa outright compliments her at several points, noting that "once we get her fired (from Schwartz & Meyer), we should have her come work for us!"
What Happened to the Mouse?: After the "Jane Doe" story leaks and Willa is forced to flee from the summit at the end of the third season, she's never seen again, nor is the subject brought up afterwards.

Ellis Steele

Ellis Pearce

Portrayed By: John Emmet Tracey

A high-ranking executive in Market Equities who initially serves as a go-between between the state of Montana and the Paradise Valley development, and functionally serves as the right-hand to the CEO.

The Dragon: Functionally serves as this within Market Equities' CEO, first to Willa and then to Caroline.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Subverted in Season 5 — he seemingly loses his cool during a meeting with Jamie regarding John's decision to 86 the corporation's leases in Montana, with Ellis getting splashed by hot coffee and ranting at Jamie's secretary. It isn't until he appears after the meeting that he deliberately played up his aggression so that Sarah Atwood could ingratiate herself with Jamie as part of her Femme Fatale plot.
Know When to Fold 'Em: When he realizes the extent to which the Duttons are willing to go to protect their ranch in Season 5, he's the first to suggest to Caroline that she drop her personal vendetta and stop the mounting losses the corporation is facing.
Obfuscating Stupidity: His Establishing Character Moment has him show up as a seemingly-clueless executive who's wandered past the Dutton ranch property line with a group of investors, prompting a confrontation with members of the ranch and his assurance that he has no idea where he is or what's going on. It isn't until later that he reveals to Willa that the move was deliberate to see what kind response the ranch would bring down on them.
Only Sane Man: Unlike the majority of the executives (who are shown to be either clueless or distractingly lustful), and compared to his bosses (who tend to lose their cool when confronted with a significant threat in the form of the Duttons), he's the only one in the corporation who retains his calm, measured demeanor, and suggests alternate solutions when everyone else fails to come up with a solution.

Roarke

Portrayed By: Josh Holloway

An executive at Market Equities, Roarke soon runs into conflict with the Dutton family after he initially tries to suggest a major property development on their land.

Affably Evil: He's repeatedly cordial with Beth and other representatives of the Dutton family... though it becomes clear soon enough that he's in league with some very bad people.
Disc-One Final Boss: Gets offed fairly early on so that Caroline (the CEO of Market Equities and the true power behind the company) can start making moves to destabilize all her opponents.
Go-Karting with Bowser: Makes a point of meeting with Beth on "neutral ground" several times in an attempt to get her to sell the ranch, both during a fishing excursion at his farm and during a casual drink at a local bar.
Hair-Trigger Temper: Interested parties shorting his company's stocks is a surefire way to get him to swear repeatedly and Trash the Set, as shown several times in Season 3.
The Man Behind the Man: Shown to have been spearheading Wade and Clint Morrow's vendetta against the Duttons, as revealed late in Season 3 and the Season 4 premiere.
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Gets offed (courtesy of a rattlesnake thrown at him by Rip) in the Season 4 premiere, during the Duttons' Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the Morrows and the Montana Free Militia.

Caroline Warner

Portrayed By: Jacki Weaver

The successor to Willa Hayes as CEO of Market Equities, and a leader who's willing to take a more pragmatic approach with the Duttons in order to get what she wants.

Always a Bigger Fish: With the arrival of her firm, all of Jenkins' machinations to open a few golf courses in the state (to say nothing of Roarke's machinations) become small-scale compared with her plan to build an entire city right on the site of the ranch. Even Rainwater's casino development is functionally swept under the rug just a few days after she comes into town — especially after she makes it clear that she's playing to win.
An Offer You Can't Refuse: She initially seems intent on courting Beth as an ally (despite her plan to destabilize and buy out the ranch), even offering her a job at Market Equities after the latter is ousted from Schwartz & Meyer and letting her loose as a corporate raider. This ends once she realizes that Beth is actually going through with her plan to destabilize Market Equities from within.
Enemy Mine: The whole reason why she hires Beth — despite considering her to be a "monster", Caroline recognizes that setting Beth against Market Equities' enemies is far more lucrative in the short-term, and it will help her get rid of a potential thorn in the company's side (Schwartz & Meyer) in the process.
It's Personal: Once it becomes clear to her that Beth did everything she said she would do (screw over Market Equities in an attempt to stall out their plan to buyout the ranch), Caroline has her fired and drops the mother of all motive rants:
Caroline: You’ve made it personal for me. I don’t care how much we spend or how long it takes. I’m going to put a public restroom where your fucking house is. I’m going to chop down every tree and dam every creek. I’m going to rape your fucking ranch to death.
Not So Stoic: The first few episodes of Season 5 have her get increasingly frazzled and angry (a far cry from her normally-stoic demeanor) as Beth's plans come to fruition, via putting the Dutton ranch into a conservation easement, selling her controlling interest of Schwartz & Meyer to an ME rival and getting her father (now the Governor) to sign an executive order killing the leases ME had set up for their planned development.
Underestimating Badassery: Like Willa, she ends up underestimating Beth, particularly when the latter leads her into an extended Humiliation Conga in Season 5, via ruining nearly all her plans to establish a development in Cook County.

Sarah Atwood

Portrayed by: Dawn Oliveri

An enigmatic woman called in by Market Equities in an attempt to destabilize the Dutton family after John passes an executive order canceling the corporation's leases in Season 5.

Femme Fatale: She makes no bones about the fact that she uses her sexuality as a weapon, particularly when she decides to go after Jamie Dutton (via seducing him) as a way to destabilize the Duttons.
The Fixer: Much like each major faction on the show, she appears to fulfill this role for Market Equities, only being called in when the circumstances are truly dire.
Lady Macbeth: She enters into a relationship with Jaime Dutton, ostensibly to destabilize the Duttons, by convincing him to pursue his ultimate political aspirations and have John deposed as Governor so that he can take the job for himself.
Only in It for the Money: She admits in her first scene that the only reason why she's in Montana in the first place is because ME is paying her a lot of money.
Really Gets Around: Implied — in tandem with being a Femme Fatale, her Establishing Character Moment has her ordering a junior subordinate at Market Equities (who is sneaking glances at her backside) to stare at it if he really means it, and implying that she would be fine jumping into bed with him if he asked her.

Others

Bob Schwartz

Portrayed By: Michael Nouri

The co-founder of Schwartz & Meyer, an investment consortium located in Salt Lake City, and Beth's boss, who he works closely alongside to increase the firm's land holdings in Montana.

Adding Insult to Injury: He gets called out by Beth in Season 4 for not giving any sympathy to her when she was in the hospital, after she was nearly killed when a bomb was detonated in the firm's Montana office, with it being suggested that he'd all but given up on her at that point.
Big Good: During the first three seasons, he's unambiguously on Beth's side, giving her all the resources she needs to set up a branch office in Park County. He flies to the county multiple times to glean status updates from her (and help initiate her mass land purchase to stop Jenkins and Providence), and is by far the most unambiguously positive investor in the series, as he's extremely pleased with Beth's actions. This all goes out the window when he performs a Face–Heel Turn in Season 4.
Corrupt Corporate Executive: It's implied that his strategy of securing land holdings around the Dutton ranch was a long-term play for himself, assuming that he believed the ranch would end up being sold to Market Equities. It isn't until Beth finally drops the news on him that his plan didn't work (she's listed as a co-owner on all the leases) that he finally shows the first signs of confusion and fear in the series.
Didn't Think This Through: He coldly fires Beth, who was about as loyal as an employee could get (he even condoned her Lady Drunk tendencies), despite the fact that she made hundreds of millions in profit for the firm and was a ruthless corporate raider, of whom he was only one of a select few people she implicitly would do anything for. For this, he is outplayed when Beth reveals that (thinking ahead) she made herself co-owner of all the land holdings, she takes a job as Market Equities' corporate raider, and has both Bob and his nosy assistant fired (and the firm's holdings moved to Montana) once she starts in her new role.
Face–Heel Turn: Due to Beth's strategy of shorting Market Equities' stock backfiring on her, Schwartz unceremoniously fires near the beginning of Season 4, leading to a Laser-Guided Karma moment (listed below).
Laser-Guided Karma: Once he fires Beth, she accepts a job offer from Market Equities and leverages it to take hold of the consortium's controlling interest in Schwartz & Meyer, before driving to their offices in Utah and personally firing Bob and his nosy assistant.
Ship Tease: Beth tells him more than once that if he was twenty years younger, she'd have no problem jumping into bed with him.

Victoria Jenkins

Portrayed By: Barret Swatek

The wife of developer Dan Jenkins, who moves with him (and their daughter) to Yellowstone to oversee the development of his planned concept, Paradise Heights.

Ms. Fanservice: Spends a good portion of her screentime aggressively flirting with others or (as her key scene in Season 1 suggests) disrobes in front of her husband in an attempt to get him to have sex with her.
What Happened to the Mouse?: She's sent away with her daughter back to Los Angeles late in the first season and never reappears, not even to find out what happened to Dan as a result of his death.

Mia

Portrayed By: Eden Brolin

A barrel-racer who meets Jimmy during a rodeo contest and strikes up a relationship with him — and, in the process, is hired on at the Dutton ranch as a wrangler.

The Artifact: Invoked in-universe, where she continues to hang around the bunkhouse for weeks (if not months) after Jimmy's departure, despite not being employed by the ranch and having no other purpose other than showing up to hang out with Laramie and eat/drink at the bunkhouse (after she was expressly fired after the Lloyd/Walker fight), prompting this reaction from the ranchers.
Mia: (to Jimmy, after the Cat Fight with Emily) How fucking dare you bring her here!
Jimmy: How am I supposed to know you were gonna be here? YOU DON'T FUCKING WORK HERE!
Did Not Think This Through: In Season 4, she functionally abandons him in his hour of need (when he's sent to apprentice at the Four-Sixes), refusing to commit to wait for him and all but treating him as a pariah. When he comes back several months later, now with a renewed focus in life and a fiancee in Emily, she snaps, instigating a Cat Fight and attempting to sway Jimmy back before he coldly tells her he isn't in love with her anymore. The last time she's seen, she's awkwardly standing by her vehicle by the entrance to the ranch to watch Jimmy leave with Emily.
Hypocrite: The reason why her relationship with Jimmy fizzles out in the first place (early on in Season 4) is due to her forcing him into a no-win situation, as she tells him he'll have to choose between his loyalty to the ranch (which is shipping him off to the Four-Sixes for "one last shot" to make something of himself) or her, with no possibility of waiting for him until he returns. When he returns to the ranch at the end of Season 4, she tries to cajole him into choosing between her or Emily, expecting that Jimmy will be willing to throw away all the maturity he'd gained in the interim, only to have it thrown back in her face when he unambiguously chooses to stay with Emily.
Love at First Sight: With Jimmy, after meeting him at a rodeo. She immediately starts referring to herself as his girlfriend, and goes out of her way to help with his physical therapy after he's injured for the first time in a bronco-riding contest.
Toxic Friend Influence: A core part of her character is that she repeatedly tries to inspire Jimmy to pursue a life of rodeo contest work, being that she tells him straight out that the only way he can be with her is if he lives up to the initial perception she had of him (as a successful winner) and run the rodeo circuit throughout the country. When this doesn't work (and it causes him to be seriously-injured, and later sent to the Four-Sixes), she dumps him and treats him as a pariah.

Laramie

Portrayed By: Hassie Harrison

A barrel racer, and Mia's best friend, Laramie is swayed to work at the Yellowstone as a ranch hand.

The Artifact: Like Mia, she sticks around the property long after she'd been expressly fired by John and is no longer performing ranchhand duties. As of Season 5, she still seems to be living at the ranch with Walker, though it appears she works more in a supportive role with other members of the ranch to cook and clean for the rest of the wranglers.
Love Triangle: Season 4 mines a large amount of drama over the developing tension between Lloyd and Walker over her affections.
The Lad-ette: She has no problem drinking and playing cards with the rest of the wranglers, as is befitting her reputation as a barrel-racer who has toured the state.
May–December Romance: Initially becomes attracted to Lloyd, the senior-most ranchhand at the Dutton property, though nothing actually comes of it, as she eventually becomes drawn to (and enters a relationship with) Walker, fueling the Love Triangle noted above.
Worst Aid: In response to Walker being stabbed by Lloyd (and despite the on-site doctor telling her otherwise), she swiftly yanks the blade out of Walker's shoulder, prompting the rest of the wranglers to freak out.
Laramie: You said 'pull it', baby!

Summer Higgins

Portrayed By: Piper Perabo

An environmental activist from Oregon, and the leader of a protest group called Free Earth, who runs into friction with the Duttons when she strikes up a connection with John after getting arrested at a protest. First appears in the latter half of Season 4.

Age-Gap Romance: She strikes up a romance with John after the latter functionally rescues her from the Free Earth protest, with several members of the family (including Beth) heaping scorn on her in the process. For his part, John claims he's "too old" for any of the relationship drama that comes attached with dating a younger woman.
Chekhov's Gunman: She gets brought back into the plot in Season 5, after being arrested and sentenced to a year of jail time in the previous season finale, when Lynette tells John to hire an environmental advisor who understands the circumstances facing the local ecosystem. John subsequently hires her as his new advisor, under the guise of being in his custody, and allows her to live at the ranch.
Didn't Think This Through: She leads the Free Earth protesters against the pipeline being built by Market Equities (on Beth's suggestion), but not only gets hung out to dry when the police intercede and forcibly arrest her, but is surprised when her actions (and subsequent advice from John on how to plead in court) end up leading her to be given a 15-year sentence, causing her to start crying after hearing the verdict.
Hypocrite:
- She repeatedly talks about the rights of animals that are being killed by big corporations and ranches, including the Duttons, under the belief that all animals have a soul and are being unfairly impacted by the habits of humanity. John throws this back in her face during the first meeting they have, commenting that the items she eats (that are allegedly vegetarian) are made by cultivating fields that kill all the animals on or below it, which drives a giant thorn into her philosophy.
- When she gets arrested towards the end of Season 4, she seems to be under the impression that shoving a cop off a protester (to say nothing of her scheming with Beth to make the protest a much bigger deal on the national stage) won't cause any consequences... only to be surprised when it results in her facing a lengthy prison sentence for the crime (which is only lessened when John convinces the authorities to knock it down from 15 years to one).
Naïve Newcomer:
- She shows up in Montana being completely naive of the political infighting that's going on between the Duttons and other groups in the area, and goes on a tear protesting at multiple sites (up to and including stripping, assaulting officers and damaging property) under the belief that she can get away with it because her cause is just. It isn't until she gets nabbed for shoving a cop at a protest that gets national attention and facing 15 years for the crime that she finally realizes how badly she screwed up. To note, Beth even calls her out on her behavior repeatedly.
- Season 5 mines a large amount of drama (and amusement) from the fact that she's stuck on the Dutton ranch via house arrest (as John had the remainder of her sentence commuted), and is taken aback when she not only has to learn how to get along with the family dynamics, but take part in several ranching jobs, including aiding in the annual branding ceremony.
Straw Vegetarian: When sitting down for dinner with the Duttons, she refuses to eat anything the family serves her because of her vegetarian views. She then spends the rest of the meal rudely criticizing her hosts for eating meat. Rip later explicitly calls her out on being a bad guest.

Emily

Portrayed by: Kathryn Kelly

A vet tech at the 6666 (Four-Sixes) Ranch in Texas introduced late in Season 4. Emily befriends Jimmy Hurdstrom after he's sent to the ranch by John and Rip in an attempt to set his priorities straight.

Cat Fight: Gets into this with Mia after she shows up at Yellowstone — and proves she's no slouch, nearly dominating the entire fight against the former.
Love at First Sight: Falls in love with Jimmy after they both aid an animal in distress at the 6666 Ranch, with her more-or-less telling him right afterwards that she's planning to snatch him up as a husband.
Promoted to Opening Credits: As of Season 5, which also serves as an Interface Spoiler (given that she doesn't appear until midway through the season).
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She outright tells Jimmy that he's one of only six "available men" in the state, that she's dated two others (rejecting the other three out-of-hand) and tells him that she's going to "scoop (him) up before (he's) snatched up from the market".
Violently Protective Girlfriend: When Mia punches Jimmy for bringing Emily to the bunkhouse (when he had no idea she was there), Emily immediatley jumps to his defence and nearly beats the shit out of Mia.

Characters / Yellowstone

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