This season of Yellowstone was particularly fraught for Wes Bentley’s Jamie and now Bentley breaks down his big scene.
Part of the fun of “Yellowstone” Season 5 was to watch Jamie (Wes Bentley), the adopted son of John Dutton (Kevin Costner) and mortal enemy of John’s biological daughter Beth (Kelly Reilly), mutate into an even more oily and complicated character. And all of his political maneuvering led to one of the best showdowns in the history of the series, as he and Beth went at it, with both characters letting the venom fly.
If you aren’t totally caught up, this season Jamie assumed his role as the attorney general of Montana, working under John Dutton and alongside Beth. Of course he was constantly undermined and badgered by his family members, even after he fell under the spell of a powerful new operative looking to bring down the family.
TheWrap spoke to Bentley about what went into the scene, what his relationship with “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan is like and what he can tease about the back half of season 5 (set to debut on the Paramount Network this summer).
You’ve been on the show since the beginning. Did you have any indication that it would be this phenomenon?
No, I mean Taylor did. I hear this stuff all the time, I’ve worked with people that believe it, but they say, “This is going to be this and that and that”. But everything Taylor said the show would be – it’s going to go many seasons and it’s going be the biggest thing you ever did. And it’s going to be biggest show on TV. And you’re like, Well, I could see the potential of that, but let’s see. And it is all of that and more. It’s been a trip, though, to see the growth and who watches the show and what they’re into about the show. It just proves that Taylor can avoid the polarizing things and let you into the life of it all.
What is your relationship with Taylor like? And how has it changed over the years?
It’s great. It’s been great from the beginning. And from the first phone call with us talking about it to now, even what he said to me then, which is this is a Greek tragedy in big sky country. Well, that’s how I described Beth and Jamie, that’s a bold Greek play relationship between them that complicated, that has that heightened feeling that they bring that comes from that. But he and I are close. And I don’t ask him any questions because I find it in the writing. I love to discover in the writing, sometimes line by line, what’s coming out, what the depths he’s put into it, because he puts a lot of stuff in there. And you just give it the time to discover it. Every once awhile, we just talk to catch up. But also, if I have questions, he definitely will answer and help guide me, which is great.
