How Did Taylor Sheridan & Bella Hadid’s ‘Yellowstone’ Appearance Come About?
Spoiler Alert
[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 13, “Give the World Away.”]
Is this really the final season of Yellowstone? If so, they’re wasting a whole lot of time with random plot instead of bringing the story to a close. Series creator and writer Taylor Sheridan made a long guest-star appearance in the penultimate episode of Season 5 on Sunday, December 8. He returned as horse trainer Travis Wheatley, seen earlier this season and in seasons past. But this time Beth (Kelly Reilly) visited him on his home turf, where she was greeted by Travis’s girlfriend, Sadie, played by Bella Hadid. The 54-year-old series creator casting a 28-year-old supermodel to play his girlfriend? Good grief. Hadid’s real-life boyfriend, performance horse star competitor Adan Banuelos, was one of the episode’s many guest stars as well.
Beth went to Texas looking for help in selling the Yellowstone ranch’s horses. The ranch was hosting an everything-must-go auction to raise money to keep the property or at the very least buy more time, and Beth realized that Travis and his boastful but effective personality was exactly what she needed to get the big money. Beth was greeted by Sadie at the door of Travis’s house when she arrived to the Texas mansion and walked in to find him in minimal clothing surrounded by several naked women playing strip poker as a group of fully clothed men watched (Banuelos had a line in this scene). Beth was disgusted by the whole thing (same). The one great thing this scene did provide, however, was a new zinger from Beth. When asked if she wanted to play strip poker with them, Beth replied, “I would rather have a gasoline enema.”
If you were wondering what Hadid was doing in an episode of Yellowstone, she’s been an equestrian for years. Now, she competes in cutting horse competitions like Banuelos and Sheridan. On November 29, Hadid, Yellowstone and other Sheridan series stars, and Sheridan partook in the first-ever National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Celebrity Cutting Contest in San Antonio. So the couple’s cameo seem to have come about through their friendship with Sheridan. Although, with Hadid being an equine competitor herself now, she could’ve just appeared as herself in the episode like her boyfriend and a handful of other stars of the cutting horse competition circuit did.
Bella Hadid as Sadie and Adan Banuelos as himself in Yellowstone Season 5 Episode 13 (Paramount Network)
Other guest stars included Hallmark star Bart Johnson (aka Troy Bolton’s dad from High School Musical) and Bryce Durfee as two men at a bar that Beth and Teeter (Jen Landon) trolled for entertainment as they grieved John Dutton (Kevin Costner) and Colby (Denim Richards). Kelby Phillips, Cade McCutcheon, Matt Mills, Tracer Gilson, Kory Pounds, and Brandon Bearden, who all hail from the cutting horse world, also appeared as themselves alongside Banuelos. This was like that episode of The Bear Season 3 that had all of the real-life chefs. Sure, it’s fine to want to spotlight the real people that inspired your show. But don’t do it at the expense of the plot. There’s only one episode left in Yellowstone, if this really is the final season. There’s hardly time to waste.
When the guest stars weren’t onscreen, the plot did start to become more focused among the Duttons. Jamie’s (Wes Bentley) sexual relationship with the murdered Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri) was leaked to the press by Beth, who secretly witnessed their first sexual encounter last season. Leaking this information was part one of her starting to ruin Jamie’s life after their father was killed. The next step, as she promised to her brother earlier this season, will be killing him the next time she sees him in person.
Jamie went to his ex/the mother of his son, Christine (Katherine Cunningham), asking for help. She begrudgingly came up with a plan for him to distance himself from Sarah and the homicide investigation, and Jamie agreed to follow it for the sake of his son. We’ll see if he can keep his promise to protect his son’s future by not creating a scandal that will follow the kid for the rest of his life.
Back on the ranch, Kayce (Luke Grimes) didn’t tell Monica (Kelsey Asbille) that he held a child ay gunpoint to threaten the man who orchestrated his father’s murder. He simply said he did what he needed to do to protect their family, and Monica didn’t ask any questions even though Monica from the past absolutely would have. Kayce also may have figured out a way to save the family’s land through a savvy business deal that won’t break the bank. In next week’s finale, the Duttons will bury John in the family plot and the ranch’s fate will hopefully be revealed. Please, no more scenes showing how well Sheridan can ride a horse.
Yellowstone, Sundays, 8/7c, Paramount Network
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R
FYI they are not rodeo stars as cutting is not a rodeo event. It is a separate equine event all it's own in the horse world. These trainers and competitors in this episode are at the top of their game however. Made for great watching.
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O
How self indulgent and egoistical of TS to waste a whole episode on himself. Yeah we get it buddy. You think women are only good for one thing and you think you look good with your shirt off . Yawn
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G
Glad someone else thinks too much chaos and egotism going on. Not to mention, the all too often colorful language!
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C
Yellowstone Started off great everyone was talking about it...A family fight off outsiders then family started fighting within is when interest for me was lost not when Kevin Costner left...Taylor Sheridan does have an issue I think with the way he thinks women should be treated and looked at ..take for instance 1923 fetish with women getting whipped which had nothing to do with storyline...landman a man old enough to be her grandpa lusting and sweating over almost underage girl...then last episode of Yellowstone just get on with it and end it already...
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G
I agree with you. Sheridan needs to stay out of the mix and stop getting more people involved. He’s ruining the ending!
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O
I for one loved watching the performance horses. Sheridan is brilliant and can do whatever he wants as it’s HIS show.
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C
I love this show but somehow missed that the Travis character was played by Sheridan himself. I have to say he is a good actor and excellent on a horse. I enjoyed the riding demonstrations
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L
I loved it...every bit of it! Taylor always gives his series' female cast members the best flipping lines and most interesting parts. He's a talented writer with a lot of irons in the fire at once. I think he and Costner were two huge egos competing with each other in one small arena and one had to go out and do his own thing. When it comes to egos, have you ever wondered why any film Costner has starred/produced/directed in is ALWAYS longer than two hours (sometimes three)? I think it's because he can't stand to cut any scenes of himself out of the movie. I think he was traumatized when all of his scenes were cut from "The Big Chill" except for his hand as the corpse and he's tried to make up for it since. As for Sheridan making a bigger splash this season, I'm all for it. Everyone knows the 6666 ranch will have its own series and he'll obviously be a part of it. I enjoyed hearing how he and Rip know each other. And as a writer, I know how difficult it is to find time to exercise while being a slave to your muse. The fact that he's extremely accomplished as a horse trainer, writer, actor, etc. and STILL finds time to work out, obviously, is to his credit. As long as he's producing good/great entertainment, I'll be watching.
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O
Sheridan has so many projects that he doesn't have time enough to spend on a whole storyline for Yellowstone. To use up airtime he fills in with songs, horse shows and other time wasters where he doesn't have to write anything. If one subtracts just the dialog I'm guessing his scripts might be 10 to 15 pages only.
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C
Totally a self-indulgent Taylor Sheridan episode which had me fast forwarding through most of the scenes. First time I’ve done that in 5 seasons.
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O
Well it is his show, he can do whatever he wants. And he seems to like introducing new people into the show business.
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G
If the Travis character was the opposite of what it was, you'd be praising TS over how great of a guy he his. Just enjoy the damn show. TRAVIS' character is an egotistical asshole. But it would be okay if anyone else played the role apparently 😂
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G
The whole character is egotistical. Does it matter? You would say he's such a great guy if his character was the opposite of what it was. Don't be jealous it's HIS show
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O
Very sad. He died look good with his shirt off. Very disappointed that the show had to end
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R
Damned how did he die, I didn't see it?
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G
GOOD RIDDANCE! Tired of hearing about Yellowstone with Taylor Sheridan in second place on that list. Will be glad when they are gone.
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