‘Yellowstone’: Kelly Reilly ‘Couldn’t Imagine’ Rip and Beth NOT Being Together

ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS

• Yellowstone star Kelly Reilly says Beth Dutton really wants her and Rip’s new family to work out.
• But hints that Taylor Sheridan may have other plans for Beth and Rip other than domestic bliss.
• Reilly says Rip is Beth’s ‘rock’ and she “couldn’t imagine” them not being together.

Yellowstone star Kelly Reilly says that her character, Beth Dutton, is trying to move on in season 4. After cheating death in the season 3 finale, Reilly says Beth is attempting to build a family with Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) and Yellowstone newcomer Carter (Finn Little). Rip is Beth’s “rock,” Reilly explained. And she “couldn’t imagine” the two not being together.

‘Yellowstone’ star Kelly Reilly says Beth really wants her new family to work out

Beth met teenage orphan Carter at the hospital in the season 4 premiere, where her father John (Kevin Costner) was recovering from being shot. Reilly says her character invited the boy to live at the Yellowstone Ranch because she sees a kid who’s “just like her man,” and she knows he needs her help.

“She’s playing it cool, but she really wants it to work out,” Reilly told TV Line. “We’ve had a little window into seeing her potential for real happiness. I’m not saying that domestic bliss is necessarily real happiness, but it’s a tonic to the life that she’s had. And it’s really lovely to see Beth happy.”

Beth sees the similarities between Rip and Carter

Reilly isn’t sure that Beth believes she’s capable of being a parent to Carter. But, she says there’s something about the teen that pushes Beth’s buttons in a way that nothing else ever has. This isn’t Beth’s maternal instincts kicking in, Reilly says. Instead, she thinks Beth has taken to Carter because of his similarities to Rip.

“She’s just thinking that here’s this kid who is just like her man, who has nothing, and if she doesn’t help him, he has no life,” Reilly explained. “And just in the fact that John Dutton helped Rip when he was a kid on the ranch and she fell in love with him then, there’s something poetic and beautiful in that.”

The ‘Yellowstone’ star couldn’t imagine Rip and Beth NOT being together

Beth and Rip have been on and off since they were teenagers. During all that time, Beth has kept a secret from her longtime love that could end up destroying the relationship. Rip knows that Beth can’t have children, but he doesn’t know why. If Rip finds out the truth and leaves Beth, Reilly says it would destroy her character.

“I couldn’t imagine that [Beth’s life without Rip],” Reilly confessed. “He is her anchor, her rock. He is her home. That would untether her to a point of… [At a loss] I don’t know who she would become without that. Now that she’s had that love and allowed herself to fully move into it, and we see how devoted she is and how much she adores him, to lose him would probably cut off the last link to her humanity.”

Kelly Reilly admits that Beth should probably tell Rip her secret

As Yellowstone fans know, the reason Beth can’t have children is because she was sterilized after getting an abortion on the nearby reservation. Beth asked her brother Jamie (Wes Bentley) to help her terminate her pregnancy after Rip got her pregnant. And when the nurse told Jamie they were required to perform a hysterectomy after the abortion, he agreed without telling his sister.

Beth later found out what Jamie did, and she has hated him for it ever since. But Rip is still in the dark about two things. First, he doesn’t know that Beth was pregnant with his child. And second, he doesn’t know that Beth terminated that pregnancy.

“Well, she has a secret, doesn’t she, that Rip doesn’t know about. He knows that she can’t have children, but he doesn’t know why,” Reilly noted. “Rip also doesn’t know she was pregnant with his child. So she’s thinking a day might come when he might find out or she will tell him. One would say she should tell him.”

‘Yellowstone’ creator Taylor Sheridan has different plans for Beth Dutton

Reilly confessed that there’s a part of her that hopes Beth “gets her own family to look after.” She says taking Carter in is probably one of the most challenging things that Beth will ever encounter in her life. If he does become a son to her, Reilly has no doubt that Beth will protect Carter the way that she protects her father.

However, fans shouldn’t expect Beth to get a happy ending. Reilly says that Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan “has other plans” for her character, so finding domestic bliss is questionable.

“But she does want it to work out,” Reilly insists. “She sees that for Rip, it would be wonderful for him to have a kid in his life that is similar to him [at that age].”

New episodes of Yellowstone air Sunday nights on the Paramount Network.