Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone may have wrapped the story of the Dutton Ranch, but star Gil Birmingham thinks there’s more story to be told for the Broken Rock Reservation.
The series’ storied finale paid off a prophecy, introduced in the series’ prequel 1883, that the Duttons would steward the land for seven generations before its return to the region’s Native communities. The finale concluded with the Duttons’ ranch being torn down board by board, the land returned to the Broken Rock Reservation.
It’s a poetic ending for the ever-popular series, which has since received a growing array of spinoff announcements and updates. While we think the Broken Rock Reservation would make an excellent spinoff subject, there’s been no announcement as to the future of the flagship series’ Native community. In a new interview with star Gil Birmingham, there may be reason to hope.
Following the Broken Rock Reservation forward
In the interview (via THR), Birmingham discusses the prospect that Yellowstone could potentially follow Chief Rainwater and the Broken Rock Reservation. “Well, it was always stated that he wanted to return the land to its original form when man first found it, which is part of why there was the disassembling of the ranch, or at least the house [at the end of the finale],” Birmingham explains “And that’s the stewardship or obligation of honoring the law of nature.”
Commenting on Rainwater’s casino ownership, and stereotypical outlooks over Tribal casinos, Birmingham added “there’s so little education about the Native culture, that’s really not something that we dreamed about doing.” In the series, he continues, “Early on, Rainwater referenced that [in a scene] with John Dutton, how it was an ironic way to stay afloat and generate revenue, and that was done primarily to acquire the land.”
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Regarding the prospect of continuing to follow the Broken Rock Reservation, Birmingham added “yes, I see a great opening.” Adding he wasn’t sure of what Taylor Sheridan feels on the matter, Birmingham commented that the possibilities for an expansion are already in the DNA of the series. Regarding the importance of connecting to nature, and how land represents that, “I think people are becoming more aware of that as they attend national parks or want to get away from the city,” he says, “or even with the lifestyle of cowboys and ranching to some extent in expansive areas.” “There are those possibilities that I see [with Rainwater], and that’s what I would plan if the show continued and what my tribe would do with it.”He concluded the discussion by noting that the fight to keep the land pristine would still have the same drama that drew millions of viewers to Yellowstone:
“There would still be an ongoing onslaught of private interests the same way that John Dutton experienced it. The corporate world is not going to sit by on opportunities; they are going to look for loopholes of some sort to generate more power, more money, more revenue. That seems to be the human condition. So it wouldn’t be drama free, trust me!”
With the finale racking up major viewership numbers for the Paramount Network, here’s what a series following the Broken Rock reservation could look like, along with one caveat it should observe.