Who Are The Duttons in Yellowstone?

Yellowstone tells an emotional and violent story about one ranching family, the Duttons. Their legacy is hundreds of years old but who are they?

Yellowstone introduced the world to the Yellowstone Ranch and to the dedicated and vicious Dutton family. They quickly became one of TV’s favorite families, yet the history of the family — both in Yellowstone and in 1883 and 1923 — is dark and bloody. A lot of the history of this family has been fleshed out already, but there is always more to see. While fans wait for the fifth season of Yellowstone to finish airing, they are left wondering more about whom the Duttons are and what their lasting legacy on TV will be.

Yellowstone started in 2018 and became almost an instant success. The mixture of the American West and the feeling of gangland violence immediately drew audiences of all demographics into the show. Combined with the star power of Kevin Costner, Yellowstone became one of the most well regarded shows of this era. Taylor Sheridan began to expand the Yellowstone universe with multiple spinoffs about the early days of the Dutton family. The franchise quickly became a flagship for Paramount+ and the network is eager to see more of the family history explored on screen. The sequel to Yellowstone may even follow the Dutton’s further with Matthew McConaughy leading the charge.

The Duttons Started Out With Nothing, and Stole Everything

The Dutton family story starts on screen in the spin-off 1883. Looking at James Dutton and his family on their journey to what would become the Yellowstone Ranch. James, his wife Margaret, and his children Elsa and John joined with another group of settlers and began to travel across the country to the frontier. Yet, on this journey, they lost their daughter Elsa and ended up settling in what would become Montana. There, they had another son named Spencer. Before James and Margaret died, they left the land and their sons to be watched over by Jacob and Cara, James’ brother and his wife.

Their story is picked up in 1923, the second spinoff of Yellowstone. By this time the Duttons have expanded their influence. They run the Livestock Comission and the Ranch has expanded to a massive size. But as Yellowstone

addresses, much of this land was taken from the First Nations people that already lived on the land. Jacob also used his authority to make sure that the cattle farmers had far more control than other ranchers like sheep herders. The sheep herders fought back and the Duttons went to war — they fought, bled, and killed for their land.

The Modern Day Duttons Are the Most Cutthroat Yellowstone Family

The Duttons of modern day Yellowstone are almost more vicious than any of their ancestors. John Dutton runs his ranch and the state with an iron fist. He controls the Livestock Comission through his son, Kacey, and he now controls the state as governor. They even have a jurisdictional dead zone where they can dump bodies without any fear of repercussion.

Beth Dutton is even more dangerous. She dominates the courtroom and the business world, taking down giant companies and cutthroat business people. Kacey will do anything for his family and the ranch, while Jamie is the worst Dutton. He serves only himself and helped to sterilize his sister when she was only a girl. Jamie also killed his biological father. The pattern this establishes is that the Duttons will do anything they need and hurt anyone they want.

Yellowstone is an incredible show that has helped to bring the love of the Western genre into the modern era. It has taken a show like Sons of Anarchy and combined it with the Wild West in an incredible way. The Duttons are a dangerous family who have fought for over a hundred years for their ranch and their bloody history will continue long past the ending of Yellowstone.

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The Duttons Started Out With Nothing, and Stole Everything

The Modern Day Duttons Are the Most Cutthroat Yellowstone Family

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