Remember that iconic scene from Season 1 of Yellowstone where Beth Dutton ran towards a pack of wolves? Kelly Reilly certainly does.
The Taylor Sheridan-created show provided plenty of memorable moments during its five-season run from 2018 to 2024. And thanks to the various spinoffs and prequel series, there’s been even more instant classics delivered to Yellowstone fans. But those day-one followers will likely always go back to one of the scenes that really set the tone for the show.
In the second episode of the entire series, titled “Kill the Messenger,” Kelly Reilly’s Beth Dutton went running right towards a gathering of wolves with a whiskey bottle in her hand.
Anyone familiar with Taylor Sheridan and his process knows that the writer and director never intended to have the wolves added into the scene in post-production with CGI. Instead, Yellowstone brought in real wolves, and Kelly Reilly remembers being a bit hesitant to run towards the trained-yet-still-wild animals… even though she was assured they would be fine, and there was a fail-safe installed:
“The crew said, ‘Don’t worry, we’ve got these invisible pieces of cord so if they do run at you, that will trip them.”
Notice how they told Reilly that the cords wouldn’t stop the wolves entirely. They would just trip them up. That’s the kind of situation where the actress just had to trust that the crew was in complete control.
That was one of the many reasons why Reilly found it “tremendously complicated” to find the character of Beth Dutton initially. Now, as she’s got five seasons under her belt, and an additional season as Beth in the spinoff Dutton Ranch, the role has become second nature for her.
And that’s really saying something, because in real life, the actress behind Beth Dutton is much more quiet and reserved than her on-screen counterpart.
That’s one of the reasons why Kelly has such a fun time stepping into the role of Beth: they are completely opposite in many ways. But when it comes to both of their end goals, Reilly and Dutton really do align.
The 49-year-old actress says that, when she has more down time one day and isn’t rushing back and forth from England and the United States (she currently splits time between the two with her husband, Kyle Baugher), she’d love to settle in for the long haul at her ranch across the pond.
Like Beth, Kelly loves being outdoors, and really appreciates being around horses. When the time is right, Kelly Reilly wants to return to England and take care of her land and her animals herself:
“I have a little bit of land in England, and one day in my future – when I’m not busy leaving it all the time and I can be there to really look after it – I want to have a place with animals, where I’m not handing it over to somebody else to look after.
I’d want to do it myself. My dream is to fill that land with some horses and a little vineyard, because where I live in West Sussex, there are all these beautiful sparkling-wine vineyards popping up, which are amazing.”
Sounds like the dream retirement plan, does it not? And one could make an argument that she would have never had that ideal “ride off into the sunset” plan if not for her involvement in Yellowstone… and her willingness to trust the crew of the show and run towards a wolf pack.
