The Yellowstone character diaspora continues, like cattle sent to pasture with new cowboys to lead them. First, Marshals appeared, with Luke Grimes returning as Kayce Dutton, confronting his family’s legacy while trying to make his cowboy hat fit the limited space of a CBS procedural. And now we’ve got Dutton Ranch, carrying over Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser as Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler, plus Finn Little as Carter, former ward, now officially their son. And hey, no offense to Kayce and his Team Jock Up marshals crew, but pretty quick, this new spinoff feels like the proper sequel to Taylor Sheridan’s five-season ranching drama. And here’s a surprise: Dutton Ranch mostly doesn’t even take place in Montana.

When the Yellowstone was sold, Beth and Rip repaired to Dillon, MT, and a place of their own. It’s where we meet them, as Dutton Ranch begins, and as character re-introductions go, it’s about perfect. “We’re free now, baby,” Beth tells her husband as they take a relaxing ride together. “First time for me, I think.” But their quiet existence was not meant to be. And besides, any show with Duttons can’t expect to stay idle. Within minutes, Episode 1of Dutton Ranch (“The Untold Want”) has lightning strikes starting a ginormous forest fire, and a wall of flame advancing on everything they built. Beth only has time to grab Carter and a few items before their ranch and most of Dillon burn. “It’s all gone,” Rip says, and Beth holds him close. It doesn’t matter. They will start again. And they have a whole new series for us to watch them do it. 

SIX. MONTHS. LATER. We’re in Rio Paloma, in South Texas, where the couple have purchased a ranch that raised prime Black Angus for generations. No Bunkhouse Boys in this operation – only one hand, Azul Ramos (JR Villarreal), and a tidy herd of steer. Carter goes to high school, and it’s interesting to see a side of Beth and Rip where they are actual parents and not just giving orders. Sitting on the porch of their ranch home, where they seem to have inherited its well-worn character along with the corrals, barns, and equipment, Beth recalls her father. “He never got to be happy,” she says wistfully. “I want it simple. You, Carter, me.”  

But it’s not like Beth’s cans of whup-ass burned in that Montana fire. When she visits the 10-Petal, a major ranching concern Azul says employs every decent or not-so-decent cowboy in the area, her request for slaughterhouse services turns into a confrontation with Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening). “We don’t normally open the lairage for anything less than 50 head,” the 10-Petal owner says through a smile made from knives. Beth keeps her glare steady. Alright. “Maybe I’ll carve ‘em myself.” We gotta wonder if she’s only talking about cattle.

At the Split Heart Bar on the town’s dusty main strip, Beth also encounters large animal veterinarian Everett McKinney (Ed Harris). Which is convenient, because hours later, she has determined to save a horse badly hurt in a rolled-over trailer out on the farm-to-market road. Treating the animal with care, Everett tells her not everyone around here is an asshole. And with a wink, he adds the line that will make them allies. “You’re not an asshole, are ya?” Beth takes a long pull off her Coors Banquet. “Not today.”

In Rio Paloma, the 10-Petal footprint is as big as the Yellowstone’s was in the Bozeman area. That means power and influence, with the ability to make even murders disappear. Coked-up and belligerent, Beulah’s son Rob-Will (Jai Courtney) kills 10-P foreman Wes Ayers (Nakoa DeCoite) for making him look bad, which is just another headache to solve for Joaquin (Juan Pablo Raba), the more business-minded brother. Rob-Will is Beulah’s “forever perfect boy,” even though he’s a racist drunk and raging headcase. She doesn’t even blink when Joaquin tells her about the senseless demise of Wes, and only dictates that Rob-Will go away to rehab for a while.

10-Petal vs. Dutton Ranch, Beth Dutton vs. Beulah Jackson, and if their brief confrontation at a gas station is any indication, Rip Wheeler vs. Rob-Will Jackson. We can see what Dutton Ranch is setting up, and while we also love the quieter moments this show spends with its central couple – there was never any room to do that on Yellowstone – we don’t think it’s wrong to anticipate lots of fights. Rip is out riding on the ranch one morning when he sees vultures circling over a patch of scrub trees. His rifle chases the feral hogs away, and what lies buried in a fresh shallow grave – on their land – is definitely gonna be trouble. It is the body of Wes Ayers, the 10-Petal foreman. Rip Wheeler looks around like he expects another wall of fire to hit their brand new life.

The Beth Parts for Episode 1 of Dutton Ranch (“The Untold Want”):

• Everett sings! His voice is about as leathery as Ed Harris looks, easing into his old local boy character. But he does the cowboy traditional “I Ride an Old Paint” justice.

• Rio Paloma is fictional, but the Texas town of Ferris is a stand-in, plus other locations throughout the region, pretty typical for the Sheridan-O-Verse. Which also means the Split Heart Bar is fictional. And that makes sense, because the bartender Beth meets, Carol, is played by country singer-songwriter Morgan Wade. 

• And Carter has already met someone. He defended Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind) from a handsy steer rider at the rodeo, and spent some time in a holding cell for being so noble. But Oreana is there with a smile to bail him out. Such a sweet kid; Carter’s already in way over his head.

Johnny Loftus (@johnnyloftus.bsky.social) is a Chicago-based writer. A veteran of the alternative weekly trenches, his work has also appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Pitchfork, The All Music Guide, and The Village Voice.