What Kelly Reilly & Cole Hauser Are Doing Next Will Shock Fans

The smell of hay lingers in the air, but horses are nowhere to be found. Instead, Kelly Reilly, clad in a denim-on-denim look with Saint Laurent boots that have no place in a barn, is leaning over a photo monitor to sneak a peek at her People shoot in a Manhattan studio. She’s joined by a familiar face. “It’s so nice to get to do this as Kelly and Cole,” says Reilly. “Usually it’s Beth and Rip.” When the costars sit down for an interview a little while later, Cole Hauser concurs: “It’s a big difference, isn’t it?” Reilly, 48, and Hauser, 51, are coming up on a decade as Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler, first introduced at the beginning of Yellowstone in 2018 and now about to launch their own spinoff, Dutton Ranch, May 15 on Paramount+.

Beth, the daughter of the late John Dutton (Kevin Costner), and Rip, John’s longtime ranch foreman and fixer, were in an unforgettable sort of fiery, messy love from the show’s beginning and tied the knot in the season 4 finale. Both characters are fiercely loyal to the very few people they trust—and not afraid of a little violence in order to protect them. In real life the actors are far more affable. The ease between them is palpable as they finish each other’s sentences while describing being reunited for the first time since they wrapped filming in early March:

KELLY REILLY: When we’re in character and we’re on-set, there’s such a level of concentration…
COLE HAUSER: It’s intense.
REILLY: And we’ve got a really big job to do.
HAUSER: Especially this year.
REILLY: We both care a lot, and we both are slightly obsessive about it. So we are both in our own world and very rarely get to just…
HAUSER: Hang out…
REILLY: And just be together.
HAUSER: It’s true.
REILLY: I feel so comfortable. This is just nice.

The upcoming spinoff Dutton Ranch picks up roughly a year later and follows Beth, Rip, and their adopted son Carter as they leave Montana behind and attempt to start over in small-town Texas. According to stars Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser, the move marks a major shift for the fan-favorite couple.

Reilly explained that Beth and Rip are no longer carrying the burden of protecting John Dutton’s dream after five intense seasons. Instead, the new series explores who they are without the ranch and whether they can finally stop living as “warriors.” However, Texas brings an entirely different set of challenges. In Montana, they were powerful and respected, but in Texas they are outsiders trying to adapt to unfamiliar land, people, and culture.

Hauser teased that Rip especially struggles with the transition, including working with ranch hands who primarily speak Spanish. Reilly added that the couple has no idea who they can trust in their new environment.

The series also introduces several major new characters played by Hollywood heavyweights Ed Harris and Annette Bening. Harris plays a grizzled veterinarian and military veteran who forms a friendship with Beth, while Bening stars as the head of a powerful local ranch. Both Reilly and Hauser praised the actors and said they were honored to work alongside them. The emotional heart of Dutton Ranch remains the complicated romance between Beth and Rip. Hauser described their relationship as unlike any he has portrayed onscreen, calling it “hot, cold, beautiful, angry, and passionate.” Reilly reflected on how Beth initially treated Rip terribly during the early days of Yellowstone, but over time the two characters developed deep loyalty and understanding.