Kelly Reilly is forever changed after playing Beth Dutton on “Yellowstone.”
The actress, 47, paid a touching tribute to her character before the series finale aired on Sunday, Dec. 15 — but played coy when her followers began guessing how the beloved cowboy show would end.
Warning: spoilers below!
Taking to her Instagram, Reilly wrote, “I’m so deep into another role at the moment about another land worth fighting for in the UK .. but across the pond the finale is happening tonight of the show. Whatever the future holds this is the ending of the show we have been making for the past 7 years.”
She continued, “Whatever the future holds this is the ending of the show we have been making for the past 7 years. Words cannot convey how I feel about the people I got to work and create with over the seasons. I have made true life long friends. The support from the crew and the trust and dedication of the cast. The words I got to say and the woman I got to inhabit. It changed me. It lit me up. It challenged me in every way possible and I will forever be grateful for it.”
Reilly also gave “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan a shout-out, thanking him for taking “a chance” on her.
“[He] continued to write [Beth] in ways I got to feel on fire as an actor. Thank you Taylor. Thank you the audience we made it for, for being on this journey with us. We really cared about making something special for you all … Enjoy tonight, get your tissues and your 🥃✌️,” the actress concluded.
Fans flooded her comment section with theories about how “Yellowstone” would end, and while Reilly weighed in, she focused on her character’s evolution.
“She definitely changed. In early seasons [the farm] was a place with too many bad memories. The place haunted her,” she recalled. “She was loyal to her father as she loved him so ferociously but she also felt such responsibility and guilt about the death of her mother, his wife.”
Reilly shared, “It almost became her reason to live to make it right, to do this for him. She became his most loyal soldier. Over the seasons you saw her fall in love with it again. She did it for him. For the land. And for a part of her soul.”
“Yellowstone” viewers were divided over the finale’s bombshell death, which saw Beth kill her brother, Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley), with the help of her husband, Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser), over the murder of their father, John Dutton (Kevin Costner).
Jamie’s girlfriend, Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), hired a hit man to take out John in the opener for Season 5B after Coster exited the show in June.
While plenty of “Yellowstone” spinoffs are in the works, there have been rumblings of a possible one that would focus on Beth and Rip following the sale of the Dutton family ranch, which outlets have claimed is officially in the works.
On Sunday, Reilly commented “true” when a fan asked in the spinoff speculation was accurate.
“I loved this season. There were some really different territories to explore, so I’m not clinging to her,” Reilly told Town and Country in Nov. about possibly reprising her role as Beth. “I’m happy to put her back in her padlocked box.”
She didn’t rule out a return though.
“I am definitely interested in Beth, and who she is after some things have happened,” she shared. “Who is she in peace? As an actor you’re like, ‘Ooh, let me at that.’ Wouldn’t it be fun to watch Beth go to therapy?”
“Yellowstone” aired in 2018. It was shot over 7 years and lasted five seasons, with Season 5 being split into two parts.
The series is currently streaming on Paramount+.
