So How Will 'Yellowstone's Dutton Ranch Be Saved? We Have a Theory

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Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton and Kelly Reilly as Beth Dutton standing on the front porch of the ranch in Yellowstone Season 5 Image via Paramount Network

Editor's note: The below contains spoilers for Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 13.

The latest episode of Yellowstone has given us the most obvious hint at how the neo-Western saga is going to end yet. In "Give the World Away," Kayce (Luke Grimes) teases his secret plan for ensuring the ranch's survival, and that the Dutton family legacy remains intact. Even with Market Equities, the Montana government, and Jamie (Wes Bentley) breathing down their necks, there's a possible way to keep the land out of the hands of those who would use it to build an airport, condos, or whatever else. Like the master storyteller he is, Taylor Sheridan has been dangling the Yellowstone's fate in front of us this whole time, and now, we might just finally see it.

The Only Way to Save the Duttons' Land Is To Give It Away

Beth (Kelly Reilly) looking out over the Dutton Ranch on 'Yellowstone' Image via Paramount Network

At the end of "Give the World Away," Kayce asks Beth (Kelly Reilly) a series of tax-related questions that at first seem to come out of nowhere. But as Beth begins to understand what Kayce is really getting at, so do we. It seems that the best way for the Dutton Ranch to get around paying their enormous tax debt is if they were to sell off the land, or at least the majority of it. If Kayce's plan is to be understood, they need to sell the Dutton legacy (which, according to "Daybreak," is about the size of Rhode Island) for such a low price that they would basically be giving it away. Because the land would be sold for so little, whoever purchased it wouldn't have to pay an exorbitant amount in taxes, and neither would the seller. In short, it would allow the Duttons to walk away clean.

But who would Kayce and Beth sell the land to? Well, that's the easy part. You'd want to sell it to someone who wants to preserve the land as it is, who doesn't want what Market Equities or the state of Montana is hoping to produce in Paradise Valley. That leaves only Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) and the people of the Broken Rock Indian Reservation. Rainwater is a conservationist who has been wrestling with the building of an oil pipeline through the Rez throughout Season 5. But in purchasing the Dutton land for such a small amount, it would remain exactly as it is, right next to America's first national park. It's the perfect way to accomplish what both John Dutton (Kevin Costner) and Rainwater have been trying to do for years and may help unite their people in the process.

Of course, they're already united in some ways. Sure, against common enemies such as Market Equities, but also through Kayce, Monica (Kelsey Asbille), and especially Tate (Brecken Merrill), who is quite literally a combination of both walks of life. While it's unlikely that the Duttons will sell off all the land, they might be able to get rid of enough that the weight of the back taxes won't suffocate them any longer. Most likely, a compromise between the ranch and the reservation will be brokered, one where Rip (Cole Hauser) and his cowboys can continue their work while the reservation can enjoy the vast majority of the land that they had been separated from for over a century. In fact, Taylor Sheridan has been teasing this ending for years...

Taylor-Sheridan-Yellowstone

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'Yellowstone's Prequel '1883' May Have Predicted the Flagship Series' Ending

In the Yellowstone prequel series, 1883, the first Duttons to enter Montana encounter a small tribe of Crow Indians who help them as Elsa Dutton (Isabel May) lies dying. One of their elders, Spotted Eagle (Graham Greene), specifically prophecies at the end of the series that the Duttons may take hold of the land where Elsa dies and steward it. However, in seven generations, he says, his people will reclaim the land. While we don't know exactly how many generations exist between James Dutton's (Tim McGraw) sons and Kayce, we'd wager that Tate marks the seventh generation. If that's so, then this is truly the only way the story can end.

For years, we've been wondering how Yellowstone could conclude. There will always be those who want the Dutton land, and Montana's Paradise Valley will always be seen as a place that could be turned into a tourist trap by outsiders. But if the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, or at least part of it, were absorbed into the Broken Rock Indian Reservation (and maybe even Yellowstone National Park as well), it would ensure that the Last Best Place remains so long after John Dutton's death. We can't think of a more poetic ending than that.

Yellowstone Season 5 Part 2 airs Sundays on Paramount Network. Previous seasons can be streamed on Peacock.

Yellowstone Poster

A ranching family in Montana faces off against others encroaching on their land.

Release Date June 20, 2018

Creator

Cast Kevin Costner , Finn Little , Brecken Merrill , Gil Birmingham , Denim Richards , Ian Bohen , Danny Huston , Kelly Reilly , Forrie J. Smith , Cole Hauser , Kelsey Asbille , Wes Bentley , Jefferson White , Luke Grimes , Ryan Bingham

Seasons 5

Network Paramount

Franchise(s) Yellowstone

Story By Taylor Sheridan

Streaming Service(s) Paramount Plus , Peacock

Watch on Peacock

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