Yellowstone Star Wes Bentley ‘Relieved’ At Series Ending

After all the headlines relating to Yellowstone and the modern Western series lead, Kevin Costner, fans are sad that the show is ending. However, Wes Bentley, who plays Jamie Dutton, is feeling somewhat relieved. In fact, he opened up to The Hollywood Reporter about his challenging role and how the drama has affected his work on the series.

Yellowstone star Wes Bentley is relieved the show is over

The recent, ongoing drama relating to Yellowstone, Taylor Sheridan, Kevin Costner and more has been pretty grueling. Even so, most fans of the hit modern Western drama are sad to see the “mothership” series come to an end. Meanwhile, you might think the stars of the Taylor Sheridan show would also be disappointed at its cancelation. However, that isn’t entirely the case, as Wes Bentley, who plays Jamie Dutton, is feeling a little relief.

Speaking about his challenging role in the series, Bentley got honest about how all the behind-the-scenes drama had affected him. Meanwhile, the role of the morally complicated Jamie Dutton, son and antagonist of John Dutton, the family patriarch is something that sticks with him after the cameras stop rolling.

Wes Bentley on trying to ‘shake’ Jamie Dutton

Meanwhile, Bentley’s role is complicated and hard to play. In the interview, Bentley explained that Jamie stays with him and that he doesn’t always want him there, adding:

When I see people talking about Method acting, my experience is that I’m trying as hard as I can to shake him.

However, Bentley did admit that with all the delays in production, it can get “tricky” keeping his character alive in his mind. All the contract breakdowns and Kevin Costner and Taylor Sheridan’s public and private spats have badly affected him. Meanwhile, the recent WGA Writers’ strike also makes work complicated.

“Life happens and it drifts a bit,” Bentley said, adding, “But I have a feeling it’s so ingrained that once we start really gearing up, it will all just come flooding back, and be overwhelming again.”

Bentley on how hard it is to play Jamie

Meanwhile, the Yellowstone star has long said that playing a character like Jamie is hard, especially when he could be killed off at any time. Moreover, he might not even know about this until he receives the script for that episode. With the fact that the modern Western show is coming to an end, Bentley knows for sure that Jamie will meet some kind of permanent fate. Wes went on to explain:

There is both relief and trepidation because we put so much into this. You feel like it’s a part of you. Whatever the outcome is, it’s a part of you. But I am excited to see the culmination of all of this… I’m intrigued like everyone else.

Moreover, the actor admitted that the uncertainty of his character’s fate has been a major element of Yellowstone, right from the start. He said that, with the way shows go now, you never really know who is going to be in or out, or who is going to die in which season. This is especially so when your character is basically the black sheep of the family.

“You are half mentally prepared for that happening at any moment,” Bentley said. “It created a real interesting thing for me with Jamie. Because I think Jamie also feels that his family could dispose of him at any second.”

Conflicting feelings on Yellowstone’s ending

Now that the series is coming to an end, the actor has conflicting feelings about this. He said he is going to miss the challenge of playing the role of Jamie, adding, “Every single scene is literally the hardest scene I’ve ever had to do,” Wes said. “It will always be there as one of the hardest things I’ve ever accomplished, or tried to accomplish, bringing out all the facets and nuances of this complicated character.”

For that reason, Bentley will miss the show, but will also celebrate the fact that it is over. Meanwhile, at this stage, he has no idea of his character’s ultimate fate. However, he did say he is “open” to possibly reprising the character in some future spinoff set in Sheridan’s Yellowstone universe. Wes added:

Taylor has something in his mind about where this story goes and if Jamie fits in, I definitely would be interested in being a part of that. But if it’s the end of the road for Jamie, like I said, I’m ready to wrap him up and celebrate the attempts at accomplishing this character.

For now, fans and the cast alike have no idea what will happen in part 2 of season 5 of Yellowstone. While the cast will find out when they start filming, fans will have to wait until November to watch the final episodes of the modern Western drama.

Read the full interview on The Hollywood Reporter here.