'Yellowstone' Just Lassoed a Huge Update With Kathryn Kelly [Exclusive]

3 days ago 2

We are just days away from the return of the final season of Yellowstone and there are more questions than answers as to how the saga of the Dutton family, the Dutton Ranch, and everyone on it, will play out. What we do know, however, is that the series will have a new regular cast member in the shape of Kathryn Kelly. Collider is delighted to exclusively confirm that Kelly, who has played Emily in the series since debuting in Season 4, has been bumped up to a series regular for the final season. Kelly has also appeared in the likes of Nashville, The Originals, and Powers and had an uncredited role in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Emily is introduced in Season 4 as a veterinary technician at the Four Sixes Ranch in Texas. She becomes romantically involved with Jimmy Hurdstram (Jefferson White), a ranch hand from the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. Their relationship develops as Jimmy adapts to life at the Four Sixes Ranch, with Emily playing a significant role in his personal growth from a small-time petty thief and criminal into a distinguished and competent cowboy down in the Lone Star State. Jimmy and Emily's relationship is one of the most heartwarming storylines in the series, as Jimmy has always been one character who deserved nothing more than a happy conclusion to his story. We can tease that, with Kelly's promotion to regular, we should see plenty of the duo in the final episodes.

How Will 'Yellowstone' End?

That's the golden question. John Dutton's (Kevin Costner) fate is up in the air and is one of the show's most closely guarded secrets, along with the deadly games taking place between Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Jamie (Wes Bentley). Despite this, Reilly has confirmed that, although Costner won't be part of the final season, the series' conclusion remains in line with what creator Taylor Sheridan had always planned, as she explained in a chat with Entertainment Weekly.

"The absence was part of the ending. That’s not something that we had to pivot; it was already written into the tapestry of the story. It was always going to happen, it just unfolded a little differently. It was always going to be five seasons in [Sheridan’s] head, but because the show became so successful, the network and everyone wanted more. So, in a way, fate took it, and we ended this part of Yellowstone in a way that he always envisioned it to end."

Yellowstone will return for its final season on Sunday, November 10 on Paramount Network. Check out the trailer above.