The official Yellowstone trailer and other video teasers brought advance confirmation that John Dutton (Kevin Costner) has won his election and will become the new governor of Montana in season five. John’s new position in government – plus the fact season four ended with Kayce (Luke Grimes) dropping the cryptic “the end of us” when asked what he saw in his vision quest – indicates it’s going to be rough going for the couple who represent the moral center of the Yellowstone saga – Kayce and Monica (Kelsey Asbille).
The critically acclaimed series never fails to deliver unexpected plot twists, and even the actors aren’t aware of everything that will happen to their characters as the story moves forward. Luke Grimes and Kelsey Asbille confirmed during our brief season five interview that series creator Taylor Sheridan doesn’t always let them in on his plans for the show. Grimes and Asbille also discussed what life will look like for Kayce and Monica now that John’s taken on the top spot in Montana’s government.
Paramount Network’s Yellowstone kicks off its fifth season on Sunday, November 13, 2022 with a special two-hour premiere.
Can you picture a future where Kayce and Monica will be allowed to just breathe and not be caught up in the Dutton family turbulence?
Luke Grimes: “That would be nice. Sounds great.”
Kelsey Asbille: (Laughing) “Yeah, we shouldn’t lie to you. But you know I think we’ve always rooted for them, for sure.”
They always attempt to do the right thing, even if it’s not easy. And they don’t always make the right decisions. Does that hold true for season five?
Kelsey Asbille: “Yeah. I mean, they face just incredible adversity, and this season is no different. I think it might be the most intense for them. I think they come out as different people, but I think with a new sense of purpose.”
Does John becoming governor really impact their home life and does that draw Kayce even more into the battle to save the ranch?
Luke Grimes: “You know, I think at first John becoming governor is neither here nor there to Kayce and Monica. We have so much going on and we also just kind of have been living in our own world and trying to sort of purposefully not think about what’s going on on the ranch. That’s just always sort of been our thing. It’s like back and forth. But you know John becoming governor means he’s going to have responsibilities somewhere else so it’s possible that that could mean there might be more required of us – or other people.”
Is Kayce still going to put his family first over the ranch?
Luke Grimes: “I mean, I think that’s always been his choice, right? That’s sort of like always been where he’s at and it’s always the choice he’s had to make. He tends to always choose his family. So, if he sticks with his guns that’s normally what he tends to do.”
Does season five show us more of what happened to him during the vision quest and how that’s affected him moving forward?
Luke Grimes: “Yeah, it certainly does. Yeah, I think there are a lot of like unanswered questions about that. I think a lot of people…that was like kind of jarring for a lot of the audience. Like, what is this? What’s going on? What did that mean? Who is this lady? Why is he in his underwear? And I think season five, it starts to kind of make sense of all that and the choice that he has to make and what those paths are and what ‘the end of us’ meant.”
There have been so many twists and turns over the seasons. Do they tell you in advance or do these twists take you by surprise, just like they do the audience?
Kelsey Asbille: “The latter. I think Taylor likes to surprise us.”
Luke Grimes: “Yeah, totally. He doesn’t really give us any spoilers. We get the script kind of not too much before we shoot it. That’s sort of the way it’s been since the beginning.”
In one word, how do you describe season five?
Luke Grimes: “We’ve had problems with this all day… I said tough last time. Go ahead, you got one.”
Kelsey Asbille: “Tremendous.”
Luke Grimes: “Tremendous? Good word.”
- Yellowstone Season 4 Episode 1 “Half the Money” Recap
- Yellowstone Season 4 Episode 2 “Phantom Pain” Recap
- Yellowstone Season 4 Episode 3 “All I See Is You” Recap
- Yellowstone Season 4 Episode 4 “Winning or Learning” Recap
- Yellowstone Season 4 Episode 5 “Under a Blanket of Red” Recap
- Yellowstone Season 4 Episode 6 “I Want to Be Him” Recap
- Yellowstone Season 4 Episode 7 “Keep the Wolves Close” Recap
- Yellowstone Season 4 Episode 8 “No Kindness for the Coward” Recap
- Yellowstone Season 4 Episode 9 “No Such Thing as Fair” Recap
- Yellowstone Season 4 Episode 10 “Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops” Finale Recap
- Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 1 “One Hundred Years is Nothing” Recap
