Kelly Reilly and Wes Bentley gave it their all in the intense showdown between Beth and Jamie in the Yellowstone finale.
“Obviously there are places where you will put in their doubles, who have also been with us from the beginning,” executive producer Christina Alexandra Voros said of choreographing the fight scene between Reilly and Bentley’s characters in an interview with Variety published on Tuesday, December 17. “They’ve learned the way the actors move and have been studying that so you do have that element for places where you want to pull the pad out and someone has to hit the ground and Kelly has 12 more days of shooting and nothing can happen to her. But Kelly and Wes did the majority of that fight themselves.”
During the Sunday, December 15, finale, fans saw Beth (Reilly) make her move against Jamie (Bentley) in their fight for their family’s farm following the funeral for her father, John Dutton, who was played by Kevin Costner. Beth attacked Jamie with bear spray, which led to a violent altercation that ultimately resulted in Jamie’s death.
“Even if they are not taking a punch or throwing one, the energy it takes to keep in that space emotionally is exhausting,” Voros continued. “So I think what people don’t realize when they see that fight is yes, it looks real and bloody and gruesome, but just staying in that mindset of being this ferocious takes a great deal from the actors to stay in the headspace.”
Voros applauded Reilly, 47, and Bentley, 46, for their ability to keep their composure amid all that intense choreography.
“Forget about the milk and the bear spray and the stabbing and all that. That’s the easy part,” she said. “My kudos to Kelly and Wes for being able to keep in that extreme state of war emotionally throughout that scene.”
Following the Paramount Network drama’s finale, Reilly shared a photo of her and Bentley on set after completing that fight scene.
“Wes Bentley and I after that scene … One of the greatest scene partners I have ever had,” the actress wrote via her Instagram Story on Tuesday alongside a selfie of the pair covered in fake blood. “Love you Wes xx.”
Reilly also opened up online about how much her Yellowstone character has grown since the series’ first season, which premiered in 2018.
“[Beth] definitely changed. In early seasons [the farm] was a place with too many bad memories. The place haunted her,” she wrote via Instagram on Sunday. “She was loyal to her father as she loved him so ferociously but she also felt such responsibility and guilt about the death of her mother, his wife.”
Reilly continued: “It almost became her reason to live to make it right, to do this for him. She became his most loyal soldier. Over the seasons you saw her fall in love with it again. She did it for him. For the land. And for a part of her soul.”
Since it was announced that Yellowstone would end with season 5, there have been multiple reports of a spinoff in the works starring Reilly and Cole Hauser, who played her love interest, Rip Wheeler.
“I loved this season. There were some really different territories to explore, so I’m not clinging to her,” Reilly told Town & Country in November about possibly reprising the role. “I’m happy to put her back in her padlocked box.”
Yellowstone is available to stream on Peacock.
