Yellowstone's Gil Birmingham Calls Thomas Rainwater His "Perfect Character"
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In the world of Yellowstone, with all of its secrets and machinations, it can be hard to tell the good guys from the bad—the white hats from the black hats, to borrow the Western parlance. And of all of the characters who toe that hero-villain line, few do so with as much simmering aplomb as the Chief of the Broken Rock Reservation, Thomas Rainwater. So which end of the spectrum does Rainwater reside on?
"Legitimate hero," laughs Gil Birmingham, the actor who portrays Rainwater on the megahit show, in a sit-down with T&C. "[Yellowstone] seems to be filled with what might be described as antiheroes, but they're just a multi-dimensional characters that are all flawed, which is true to the essence of being a human being."
Though he admits his Yellowstone alter-ego is, "a flexible son of a gun," morally speaking, there's no question of the affection Birmingham holds for the character. "I've been asked before, 'what would your perfect character be that you're going to portray?' I think Thomas Rainwater is it at this point."
It's a good thing, too, since Birmingham has been involved with the character since long before the drama took over everyone's Sunday night to-watch list. He had already worked with the show's creator, Taylor Sheridan, before, on the films Hell or High Water and Wind River, so when Sheridan approached him in 2015 with the show already written, Birmingham didn't hesitate.
"You don't want to raise your expectations too high because there's so much disappointment in this business, but Taylor kinda knew right from the beginning [that the show would be a hit]," he explains. "He said we're addressing the demographic that Hollywood has completely neglected. It's always from the west coast or the east coast. He said, no, we're going to start in the middle of the country and then we'll let the coasts figure it out."
As for Rainwater, and why the character in particular resonates so much with him, Birmingham says, "Thomas is always as open to offers, and how he might be able to use them to achieve his goals." He adds, "It goes to the spirit of, of the Indigenous People; you know, it's all about surviving. [If] you were to take into account the history of Indigenous People, just being alive is an accomplishment."
The complicated history between the indigenous peoples of Montana and white settlers has, naturally, been a tension on the show since the beginning, with the Duttons and Rainwater teaming up almost as often as they face off in the pursuit of their goals for the land.
As for what it means to Birmingham, who is himself of Native American heritage, to have Indigenous storylines on such a popular show, he says, "It's wonderful to have an opportunity to educate the people—the public and our fans—[about] aspects of something that may know very little of." He explains, "Especially when we go into this next season, we're going to delve into some native culture that we hope to share with the public. We're very concerned that it's done authentically, respectfully, but not revealing anything more than we feel comfortable with now, because many of these things are sacred."
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