'Yellowstone' Actress Worried Fans 'Want To Meet Beth, Not Kelly Reilly'

Actress Kelly Reilly thinks she can often leave Yellowstone fans underwhelmed because they're expecting Beth Dutton, but they get Kelly.

The fifth season of the fan-favorite show Yellowstone returns to Paramount Network on Sunday, November 13, with Reilly set to be joined by her Dutton family co-stars Kevin Costner, Wes Bentley and Luke Grimes. The latest season of Taylor Sheridan's modern-day Western is sure to be as riveting as ever as the ranch-owners enter the world of politics.

Ahead of the launch of the new season, British actress Reilly sat down with Newsweek to discuss her offscreen relationship with her co-stars, fan interactions, and where the creator is planning on taking the Yellowstone story.

Season 5 of 'Yellowstone' According to Kelly Reilly

While Season 4 of Yellowstone ended with John Dutton (Costner) launching his run for governor of Montana, the beginning of Season 5 sees him being sworn into office.

Much of Yellowstone has seen the Dutton family fight to protect their ranch, by whatever means necessary, but with more eyes on them, will the family have to play by the rules?

"I wouldn't want to ruin it by giving anything away but they are the Duttons, and it is a piece of fiction," Reilly told Newsweek. "So, I don't think playing by the rules is something they are used to doing. But what's interesting is seeing them, perhaps trying to at least."

Reilly has impressed audiences and critics as Beth Dutton in her time on Yellowstone. The sharp-tongued, unforgiving and ruthless woman is a driving force within Montana, but Reilly admits there are pros and cons to playing a character of such extremes.

"I've been playing her for five years now so in some ways it's gotten easier, but in some ways more difficult because she sort of really gets into my bones, and that's a blessing," she said.

Before Yellowstone, Reilly was known in the U.K. as a stage and screen actress, starring in the likes of Robert Downey Jr.'s Sherlock Holmes (1 and 2), Denzel Washington's Flight and the British crime series Above Suspicion.

However Yellowstone and the role of Beth Dutton has left a lasting impact on Reilly.

"She's extreme, and she's a bit of a force of nature. So, I'm not sure I take her off completely until I finished the season. I miss her when I'm not playing her because she is mine, and energizing. But at the same time, I'm quite relieved to put her away for a little minute, locked up in a padlocked box," she said.

"Every role I've played has a different experience, but I've never stayed apart for so long. At least this is a character that keeps me on my toes. I never know where Taylor Sheridan is taking her, and I never know what the episodes are going to contain. So, I'm sort of at the mercy of the storyteller as we all are, and it's exciting."

The Dutton Family Behind the Scenes

Kevin Costner is the face of Yellowstone, and his character John Dutton is the head honcho of the Yellowstone Ranch, as well as now, the entire state of Montana.

John Dutton III is the father of the Dutton family, but Reilly laughs at the assertion that Costner might be becoming a father figure offscreen too. "No, no, Kevin is the patriarch actor, the leading actor, and he's the head of our show, for sure. But he does not take on fatherly duties with any of us," she said.

John's three children, Beth, Jamie and Kayce, have their own distinct personalities, but Beth and Jamie's relationship has become increasingly toxic over the course of the show. Fortunately off-camera, that's not the case for Reilly and her co-star Wes Bentley.

"Wes and I have tremendous respect for one another. I love working with him, and I think him with me, but I know we both understand the nature of our scenes," Reilly said.

"We're good friends and I have a lot of love for him. But we're both just trying to carve out how to make this relationship [between Beth and Jamie] as impactful and truthful as possible with the words we have. But there's no true life and animosity between us at all."

When Bentley spoke to Newsweek ahead of Season 4 in 2021, he agreed that their closeness in real life helps them seem distant in the show. "The only way we can do those scenes is by fully trusting each other. Knowing that each other, we're good people and we're not out to hurt each other and that we don't have any of these feelings," Bentley said.

On Beth and Jamie's relationship within Season 5, Beth now thinks she owns her adopted brother after catching him in the compromising situation she created at the end of Season 4.

"I think in the relationship between Jamie and Beth there's a tremendous amount of love lost and I find that really sad. In the scenes, there's a sort of passion in their hatred of one another, that can only come from something lost or betrayal. And I think both of us try and play that, that cord between us is unbreakable, oddly," Reilly said.

Fans Want Beth Dutton, They Get Kelly Reilly

Beth Dutton is born and raised in Montana, but Kelly Reilly is a true Brit, so Yellowstone viewers would be forgiven for being shocked when they hear Reilly's real speaking voice.

Millions of people now tune into Paramount Network every week to see what challenges the Dutton family face next, and with it, Reilly had gained a new wave of fans.

"We have a huge audience, so as much as I like to go live around the world, quietly, and without being recognized, I can't help but get recognized a lot more than I used to. So, in that I have felt a shift, at least in certain places in the country," she said.

She continued: "People are very vocal about their feelings towards the show and Beth and it's wonderful. But also, I'm personally quite shy. I think I always feel like they would want to meet Beth, and not Kelly Reilly. But that's good because that means that I've fooled them."

Sheridan's Yellowstone universe is expanding, with the success of prequel show 1883, coming up next is 1923 this Christmas and Yellowstone: 6666 next year. There's now plenty of opportunity for characters to jump between shows.

"I love working with Taylor, I love his writing. I think one character is enough, Beth keeps me very busy and filled up. As far as the future, I think I try not think about what that is, we'll have to see where the story ends with the other shows and where Beth ends up," Reilly said on the possibility of working on other shows, either as Beth or another character.

"Taylor has a very strong idea of where the [Yellowstone] story ends, and has done from the very beginning. So we'll have to wait and see.

"I think by the time we finish this show," Reilly continued. "It's best to just leave it where we finished rather than mining it. Because, forever I don't want to be an old lady playing Beth, I don't think... Although don't quote me on it."

Yellowstone returns to Paramount Network on Sunday, November 13, with back-to-back episodes starting at 8 p.m. ET/PT.