A Brilliant 'Yellowstone' Fan Theory Explains Who Will Be the Rightful Heir to the Dutton's Ranch

Photo credit: Elaine Chung
Photo credit: Elaine Chung

With season four's premiere date still in question, Yellowstone fans don't have much else to do other than wait, send up a small prayer for the characters decimated by season three's finale, and of course, come up with theories about the series. With a rumored six season cap, Taylor Sheridan is on the down slope when it comes to scripting out his western epic, but what exactly does that mean for Yellowstone's end point? That's what Reddit's for—putting your collective cowboy hat holders together and figuring out the most likely resting place.

One Reddit user kicked things off with a likely enough theory that suggests that Yellowstone ranch has a clear heir apparent. In the current state of affairs, the Dutton family ranch is in a bit of a love triangle with the state of Montana, the Broken Rock Reservation, and the Dutton family feuding over ownership. But as this user points out, the Duttons have big money. Keeping the ranch was never about finances, but more about pride. The user adds:

So, what’s going to happen is that John is going to sell the land to the Broken Rock tribe (or whatever they’re called) for 10c on the dollar.

(1) the land will be retained in the Dutton family (grandkid) and their nation,

(2) the state will lose jurisdiction over the land because it will the be owned by Broken Rock (federal jurisdiction) and John will live out his years on the ranch while passing it on the stewards of the land.

As others on the post have pointed out, that's a bit too convenient for the series, let alone Sheridan's narrative style. But there is one part in there that several other users have pointed out as a big red flag—John's grandson, Tate, is the common ground between two of the three entities. The son of John's son, Kayce, and Broken Rock resident, Monica, Tate seems like the obvious compromise that keeps a Dutton in the mix while also incorporating the Broken Rock reservation who have long felt the land belonged to them all along.

It wouldn't be the first time we've seen the Duttons and the Broken Rock reservation put their differences aside to deal with a greater evil (see: when Tate was kidnapped by full on white supremacists??). Tate also happens to be one of the few people that John doesn't have unbridled hatred toward, so... we're not saying that the end of Yellowstone is charted out, but if the land goes to anyone other than Tate, then we deserve a spinoff to see the massive fallout to come.

Until then, we have to wait on Season Four to see (1) who's alive, and (2) how this power of attorney situation will work between Beth and Jamie. Hell, right now, who knows who owns that land.

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