All of Rip and Beth's relationship milestones on 'Yellowstone,' from the pilot to the finale — and a possible spinoff
- Beth and Rip's relationship was a cornerstone of Paramount Network's "Yellowstone."
- The couple, played by Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser, are rumored to be reuniting for a spinoff show.
- Here's a complete timeline of the pair's passionate relationship from the pilot to the finale.
Since the very beginning, Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler's relationship has been considered the beating heart of Paramount Network's "Yellowstone."
The series, co-created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, wrapped up its fifth and final season on Sunday evening with a supersized episode that saw the ranch at the center of the show returned to the Native American community who once owned the land.
In the end, Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser) decided to buy a new, smaller ranch for themselves where they could live together peacefully.
However, it's suspected that it's not the last audiences will see of the pair. Speaking in November, Hauser told The Hollywood Reporter that he felt there was more to explore with Beth and Rip.
"You can go on forever about these two. There's no walls when it comes to them, no limits," he said. "And as long as Taylor wants to write something special, I know Kelly and I would be interested to do it."
Days before the finale aired, Deadline broke the news that Reilly and Hauser would reprise their roles to star in a" Yellowstone" spinoff series, according to sources close to production. The as-of-yet unnamed show, will likely star other actors reprising their roles from the main series, Deadline said.
Network representatives did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment.
As we anticipate more news on the spinoff, BI looks back on Beth and Rip's unforgettable, passionate, tumultuous, and decades-spanning love story as it played out on "Yellowstone."
In the show's pilot, which aired in 2018, audiences were introduced to Beth, the only daughter of Montana cattle rancher-turned-governor John Dutton (Kevin Costner), and Rip Wheeler, the ranch's most loyal employee who worked his way up to foreman after first joining as an orphaned teenager.
When the two ran into each other at the ranch's main cabin, it was hinted that they had more than a little history, and it didn't take them long to slide back into old habits.
After a particularly passionate hook-up, it was clear that the two wanted different things: Rip invited Beth to join him at a music festival, to which she responded: "You ruin it every time."
Relive the moment: Season one, episode one.
Beth appeared to have thought some more about Rip's offer to do more than just sleep together, and the next time she saw him, she suggested a date more suited to her personality.
"You wanna go get drunk and watch some wolves kill an elk in a park?" he asked her.
And so that's exactly what they did. While they both acknowledged that it was far from their first date given their history, which audiences learn went back to their teenage years, it marked the beginning of the rekindling of their relationship.
Relive the moment: Season one, episode two.
In the season one finale, Beth sabotaged her relationship with Rip by turning a flirtation with ranch newcomer Walker (Ryan Bingham) into a full-blown affair.
While Beth and Rip had never properly defined their relationship, Beth's decision to sleep with Walker left Rip feeling betrayed.
In Beth's eyes, however, she had good reason to stray: Rip had left her ego bruised by assuming that she was sleeping with her male assistant, Jason (David Cleveland Brown). He also refused to pass on some information her father had privately shared with him regarding the future of the ranch.
Beth didn't have feelings for Walker, but was simply using him as a distraction as she dealt with the anger and pain from her argument with Rip.
Relive the moment: Season one, episode nine.
Beth and Walker's no-strings-attached fling carried on into season two, and it wasn't until halfway through the season that Beth pulled herself out of her self-destructive pattern and apologized to Rip.
But it was already water under the bridge for Rip, who told her he wasn't angry and she needn't ever say sorry to him for anything.
They shared smiles, acknowledging that they were back on track before Rip returned to his duties on the ranch.
Relive the moment: Season two, episode five.
Teenage Beth (Kylie Rogers) and teenage Rip (Kyle Red Silverstein) were shown initially clashing on the ranch. Beth called Rip, who had recently been welcomed into the ranch by John, her "daddy's new pet," infuriating the orphaned teen.
However, the two couldn't deny their attraction to one another. Beth asked Rip to kiss her. When he replied that he didn't know how, she revealed that she didn't either, and so the two shared their first kiss together.
Relive the moment: Season two, episode five.
Beth's decision to invite Rip to join her on the rooftop of the Dutton house for a late-night drink together led to a poignant moment between the two.
After Beth joked that Rip has been wearing the same jeans and jacket for years, Rip got vulnerable and revealed that he's spent thousands of dollars on headstones for his mom and brother, who were murdered by his abusive father.
Touched at his gesture, the two stared lovingly into each other's eyes, but before Rip could tell Beth that he loved her, she stopped him.
"Don't say it," Beth requested. "Tell me when it saves me."
That ended up coming sooner than anticipated. Later in the same episode, Beth was brutally attacked by men working on behalf of Malcolm Beck (Neal McDonough). Having managed to call Rip before things turned ugly, Rip managed to save her and kill her assailants.
As he comforted her, Rip uttered those three important words.
Relive the moment: Season two, episode seven.
After learning that she had gotten pregnant with Rip's baby, Beth asked her older brother Jamie (Dalton Baker) to get her help.
Worried that going to a hospital in the city would draw attention given that she has the Dutton name, Jamie drove Beth to a clinic where he agreed to let a doctor give her a hysterectomy, leaving her infertile for the rest of her life.
Afterward, Beth met with Rip, who asked if her pregnancy test had come back positive. Lying to him, she said it had been negative, hiding from him the abortion โ and unbeknownst to her, sterilization โ that she had just gone through.
Relive the moment: Season three, episode five.
Early on in season three, Beth hinted that she would like to one day be Rip's wife.
After speaking to her father, who told her Rip would never propose because he wouldn't be able to bring himself to ask John for his blessing out of respect for the Dutton patriarch, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
She posed the question to Rip on the porch of their cabin with a simple black ring, joking that she knew he wasn't a "diamonds and gold kind of girl."
She's his, Beth said, on one condition: "The only thing I ask is that you outlive me so that I never have to live another day without you."
Rip had a condition of his own, too: They needed to get married on the ranch. A courthouse wedding was out of the question, because there was no record of his existence on file.
Relive the moment: Season three, episode seven.
While recovering in the hospital from yet another assassination attempt, Beth ran into a kid named Carter (Finn Little) who is all alone in the world. Naturally, the boy reminded Beth of a young Rip, so she decided to invite him to the ranch to find work and give him a roof over his head.
While Rip was initially reluctant to take Carter under his wing, he eventually came around to the idea and the two began treating Carter like the child they never had.
Relive the moment: Season four, episode two.
In the season four finale, Beth decided to throw together a last-minute wedding outside the Dutton cabin.
It came after she almost bolted, leaving the Yellowstone ranch, her family, and Rip all behind, after feeling immense guilt over the secrets she had kept from Rip over the years.
When Rip convinced her to stay put and keep the promises she had made to him, she decided it was as good a time as ever to make that promise more permanent.
Wearing a white leopard-print coat and a gold dress, Beth and Rip married โ with the help of a priest Beth had managed to rope in to officiate. The ceremony took place in front of their nearest and dearest, including Carter.
Relive the moment: Season four, episode 10.
Season five filled in some more gaps about Rip's early days at the ranch. One flashback showed how Rip got his chest branded with the Yellowstone Y โ the indication that you're committed to the ranch forever โ after getting into a fight with an older cowboy who had said some less-than-chivalrous things about Beth.
After Beth and Rip began their romance as teenagers, Beth decided to make Rip jealous by going on a date with an older cowboy named Rowdy (Kai Caster). When Rip and Rowdy were paired up on a job together, conversation turned to the boss's daughter. A fight ensued after Rowdy said some insulting things about her.
After Rowdy pulled a knife on the teen, Rip hit him around the head with a rock, accidentally killing him.
When he admitted what happened to John (played in flashbacks by Josh Lucas), he was introduced to the concept of the Train Station โ the "trash can for everyone who's ever attacked us" that lies in a "jurisdictional dead zone," as John puts it โ and asked to never speak of it again. Being privy to the Dutton family's secret meant that Rip was asked to swear loyalty to the ranch, something that he had no hesitation in doing.
Relive the moment: Season five, episode seven.
Beth and Rip left the Yellowstone ranch for new pastures after the Dutton ranch was given back to the Broken Rock Tribe.
When audiences last saw Beth and Rip at the end of the finale, they were settled into their new home and ranch, miles away from the Yellowstone ranch, along with their adopted son Carter (Finn Little).
Relive the moment: Season five, episode 14.