[This story contains major spoilers from 1883, 1923 and Yellowstone season 5B finale.]
With each new series in the megahit Yellowstone franchise, a new generation of Duttons emerges. After launching in 2018 with Kevin Costner‘s central patriarch John Dutton and his immediate family, co-creator Taylor Sheridan traveled back in time to expand the franchise and introduce elder generations of Duttons, first with the single season of 1883 and then with the series 1923, which returns with its second and presumably final season Feb. 23.
The Dutton family tree has branched out as Yellowstone has been airing, with the flagship series having aired what may have been its series finale on Sunday. First, viewers followed James (Tim McGraw) and Margaret Dutton (Faith Hill) on their family’s treacherous journey west through the Great Plains in 1883, a trek that would ultimately lead to what becomes the Yellowstone ranch of the flagship series. And later, 1923 would introduce the audience to Jacob (Harrison Ford) and Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren), the Duttons who get the Yellowstone Ranch up and running after the untimely deaths of James and Margaret.
With both of the sequel series taking place decades before Yellowstone‘s John (Costner) was even born, it’s helpful to understand who’s who in the family saga, especially since revisiting the past helps to reframe the present. After all, it all circled back around in the end with Sunday’s supersized season 5B finale of Yellowstone, directed by Sheridan.
Sheridan and Paramount Network, meanwhile, have not confirmed if this was the season or series finale, but fan-favorites Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser are reportedly steering the Yellowstone-verse ship towards a spinoff series. Other spinoffs are already greenlit, including the present day-set series The Madison.
Below, The Hollywood Reporter breaks down each generation of Duttons, including what we’ve learned via interviews with Sheridan and his sprawling cast. (Here’s how to stream Yellowstone; 1883 and 1923 are available to stream on Paramount+.)
James (Tim McGraw) and Margaret Dutton (Faith Hill); Claire nee Dutton (Dawn Olivieri); Jacob (Harrison Ford) and Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren)
1883 launched on Paramount+ in 2021, three years into Yellowstone‘s run. The Western limited series, which is set in the year 1883, was narrated by main character Elsa Dutton (Isabel May), the daughter to James (Tim McGraw) and Margaret Dutton (Faith Hill). The prequel series traced the Dutton lineage back to James Dutton and his sister Claire nee Dutton (played by Dawn Olivieri; the actress who would also go on to play fixer Sarah Atwood in later seasons of Yellowstone), who died by suicide early on in 1883. Her daughter Mary Abel (Emma Malouff) also died; viewers never met Claire’s husband, named Henry Dutton. Viewers would later meet the brother to James and Claire in 1923: Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) and his wife Cara (Helen Mirren).
Elsa Dutton (Isabel May); Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) and Alex Dutton (Julia Schlaepfer); John Sr. (James Badge Daly) and Emma Dutton (Marley Shelton)
The opening of 1883 set the tone for what would lie ahead in the series when it opened with a flash-forward: The scene that would bring about the untimely death of heroine Elsa. Her spirit, however, would continue on in the franchise, as May narrates 1923 — and appeared in a surprise voiceover cameo in the Yellowstone season 5B finale. Speaking from the grave as Elsa, she informed viewers that her parents, James and Margaret, died after the events of 1883; first James, followed by Margaret. But before her death, Margaret wrote a letter to her husband’s brother, Jacob, who then found and raised Elsa’s surviving brothers, John Sr. and Spencer.
1883 viewers met John Sr. as a young boy, played by Audie Rick. Spencer, however, hadn’t yet been born.
“Upon my father’s death, my mother wrote to his brother, begging that he bring his family to this wild land and save hers,” Elsa explained in voiceover in 1923. “A year later, he arrived to find my mother frozen in a snow drift, her two boys half-starved and barely able to speak. He raised them as his own and took my father’s dream and made it into an empire. Then the empire crumbled.”
Sheridan explained of his decision to jump the series to the year 1923: “I chose that moment in time to peek back in because you’re seeing the children that we’ve met in 1883 attempting to raise another generation of Dutton.” Yellowstone viewers will recall a flashback in season four, which introduced James and Margaret, as well as a young John and Spencer, when James was shot (that scene served as real-life couple McGraw and Hill’s audition, giving Sheridan the idea to center them in 1883).
1923 then introduced the boys as adults, with John Sr. played by James Badge Dale and Spencer played by Brandon Sklenar. John Sr., who did not have any children with wife Emma (Marley Shelton), suffers an untimely death early on in 1923, pivoting the series to focus on Spencer and setting him up to be the Dutton to take over the Yellowstone ranch from an ailing Jacob. Season one ended with a Spencer-heavy cliffhanger, as he was separated from his new bride Alex (Julia Schlaepfer), and season two hinges on his Montana return to save both the family and the Yellowstone ranch from external threats.
Jack (Darren Mann) and Liz Dutton (Michelle Randolph)
After five seasons of Yellowstone and trips back in time to 1883 and 1923, one over-arching question remained: Who is John Dutton’s grandfather? The Yellowstone season 5B finale may have finally answered that question, as one eagle-eyed viewer pointed out to THR.
Yellowstone viewers were introduced to John’s elderly father, John Dutton Sr., played by Dabney Coleman, in a season two flashback. John’s mother has yet to appear or be named. When the audience met the generations that preceded him on 1923, a guessing game even among the franchise cast began about which character Sheridan would reveal to be the Dutton son who begins the Yellowstone flagship’s family line.
Some viewers believed Spencer was John’s grandfather, and that he and Alex could have a child coming soon. Others thought John Sr.’s son, Jack (Darren Mann), who is Spencer’s nephew, could still serve that role. Later episodes of 1923 revealed that Jack’s pregnant wife, Liz (Michelle Randolph), had a miscarriage, and she and Jack accepted they may not be able to have a child. According to Sklenar, Sheridan hadn’t revealed who’s who, even to the cast, after filming season one. “It’s something that Taylor is keeping very close to the vest. I have my own theories, but it’s to be told, to be written, to be seen. He’s always moving all that stuff around,” Sklenar told THR during the first season (and reiterated after the finale). “We like to debate what we think,” echoed Randolph.
Yellowstone star Wes Bentley said something similar when asked about his onscreen father’s lineage. “I’ve seen the [Dutton family tree] flow charts online. But I’m waiting for Taylor to really reveal things. I know how he writes. So I’m going to wipe those away for now. Good first draft, but let’s see what’s coming down the line,” he told THR after the season 5A midseason finale of Yellowstone.
It was even a mystery to the franchise’s all-knowing narrator last year. “You could spend your time theorizing, all the power to you. I’d rather just be told! Eventually, we all will,” May told THR in 2023.
In fact, it was May herself when she returned for the Yellowstone finale’s concluding voiceover who may have pieced this puzzle together. In her monologue (which you can read in full, below), she referred to the current Dutton family tree as having existed for seven generations. That would mean that Jack — not Spencer — would earn the title of John’s grandfather, based on the known lineage.
John (Kevin Costner) and Evelyn Dutton (Gretchen Mol)
John Dutton III (Costner) brings viewers back around to the Yellowstone flagship series, which followed the starring Montana cattle rancher in charge of the Yellowstone and its land, who made his transformation into a politician by season five, and his children as the family desperately tried to hold onto their ranch amid evolving times. Following the death of his young wife Evelyn Dutton (Gretchen Mol), the family suffered another untimely death when oldest child, Lee Dutton (Dave Annable), was killed in the series premiere. Jamie Dutton (Bentley), Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) remained alive — and fiery — heading into the season 5B finale, as they sought to avenge the death of their father (Costner departed the series between seasons 5A and 5B; John was killed off in the season 5B premiere). John’s brother Peter, it has also been revealed, died shortly after childbirth.
Lee Dutton (Dave Annable); Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley); Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser); Kayce (Luke Grimes) and Monica Dutton (Kelsey Asbille)
The ghost of Lee returned in a key moment of Yellowstone in season four to help guide Kayce during a vision quest that would change the arc of his story. With Kayce largely forming his own path with wife Monica Dutton (Kelsey Asbille) and their surviving son Tate (Brecken Merrill), the battle for the legacy of Yellowstone has largely boiled down to estranged siblings Jamie and Beth, who kicked off season 5B by waging a war against one another. On Beth’s side of the battle was the now-departed John, as well as husband Rip (Cole Hauser), who plays the devoted, Yellowstone head ranch hand. Season 5B, however, elevated Kayce to Beth’s side, as they sought to expose brother Jamie for his involvement in their father’s assassination. They also went into the season finale with a plan as to how to save the ranch.
The season 5B finale (spoiler alert!) revealed the fate of the ranch, bringing the series back to the beginning with the 1883 series promise made between James Dutton and then-Chief of the Crow Tribe, Spotted Eagle (played by Graham Greene). Elsa Dutton explained in voiceover:
One-hundred-and-forty years ago, my father was told of this valley and here’s were we stayed, for seven generations. My father was told they would come for this land, and he promised to return it. Nowhere was that promise written. It faded with my father’s death, but somehow lived in the spirit of this place. Men cannot truly own wild land. To own land you must blanket it in concrete, cover it with buildings. Stack it with houses so thick, people can smell each other’s supper. You must rape it to sell it. Raw land, wild land, free land can never be owned. But some men pay dearly for the privilege of stewardship. They will suffer and sacrifice to live off it and live with it, and hopefully teach the next generation to do the same. And if they falter, find another willing to keep the promise.
Yellowstone ended with Kayce and Beth selling the ranch back to the reservation and Beth making good on another promise: She kills brother Jamie, setting up a perfect murder that will likely see him going down for the death of their father. The final shots of the season 5B finale captured the cascading Montana land, as both Kayce and Beth are seen settling into their new lives and fresh starts, with Kayce in the former Yellowstone’s East Camp with his family and Beth with Rip in their new ranch 40 miles away from Dillon, Montana.
The Future Duttons
Teen Tate Dutton, son to Kayce and Monica, leads the youngest — and seventh — generation of Duttons. After expressing interest in doing what his father requires of him when it comes to the ranch, Yellowstone ended with Kayce wanting to start his own brand after selling Yellowstone, a venture he begins with son Tate as the father-and-son are seen purchasing cattle.
The now deceased infant son of Jamie’s with ex Christina (Katherine Cunningham) was finally referenced in the penultimate episode of season 5B after being largely absent from the fifth season; but Jamie’s involvement as a father had remained unclear. (“This season is not about Jamie as a father; this season is about Jamie as a son,” executive producer Christina Voros explained.) Beth and husband Rip, meanwhile, have all-but adopted teen cowboy Carter (Finn Little), however, he is not in the Dutton bloodline and it’s unclear if he travels with them to their new Montana home.
And now, new characters will be added to the future timeline with The Madison, the sequel series that will take place after the events of Yellowstone and will star Michelle Pfeiffer. It remains to be seen what relation, if any, her character has to the Duttons, but the series was initially described as one that would include both new and familiar faces and locations. Here is the official synopsis: “The Madison is a heartfelt study of grief and human connection following a New York City family in the Madison River valley of central Montana.” The Madison is currently in production.
This story first posted Sept. 25, 2023, and has been updated after the season 5B finale.
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