Yellowstone Kelly Reilly and Kevin Costner as Beth and John Dutton in an image from Paramount

‘Yellowstone’: Kelly Reilly Reveals Which Season 4 Scene With Kevin Costner Was ‘Heartbreaking’ to Film

For the first time in ‘Yellowstone’s’ four seasons Kelly Reilly’s Beth Dutton found herself actually disappointing her father John, played by Kevin Costner.

by Perry Carpenter

Published on July 21, 2022

2 min read

Kelly Reilly’s Beth disappointed John Dutton in ‘Yellowstone’ Season 4

Ever since Yellowstone fans met Beth in season 1, it’s been made clear she would do anything for her beloved father and the fight for his ranch. She even gives him advice about his love life — telling him in season 4 that he needed to get laid.

John eventually hooks up with environmental activist Summer (Piper Perabo), but she’s not what Beth had in mind for her father. After threatening Summer with a kitchen knife, Beth goes to great lengths to make a patsy out of her perceived enemy by setting her up to get arrested.

In the penultimate episode of season 4 — titled “No Such Thing as Fair” — John finds out that Beth is responsible for Summer being arrested and facing life in prison. And this truth sets up a confrontation between father and daughter. When John calls Beth out for what she did to Summer, his daughter just shrugs it off.

“I’d do anything to hurt your enemies. If I hurt others, so be it,” she says. “I don’t care. I don’t care if she dies in prison. I don’t care if she gets out. I do not f**king care. I care about you. I care about Kayce. I care about Rip.”

Kelly Reilly says the scene was ‘heartbreaking’ to film

Hearing this from his daughter made John livid that she would do something that “cruel.” He tells her, “We don’t kill sheep, we kill wolves. I never thought I’d feel this way about you but you really disappointed me, honey… I never thought I’d say that about you.”

According to Reilly, this scene was absolutely “heartbreaking” to film because Beth is usually “very obedient” when it comes to her father.

“That scene was heartbreaking for me. Beth doesn’t often come up against her father. She’s very obedient with him,” the actress told TV Insider. “So to have him say he’s disappointed in her… she never thought she’d hear that from him. She’d rather have been punched.”

The ‘Yellowstone’ star found herself quite vulnerable during that scene

Reilly went on to explain that Beth Dutton means so much to her that she wants “people to understand her.” So, she’s always trying to connect to the part of Beth that “isn’t just brutal.”

“In this specific scene, it wasn’t a big reach to find that (vulnerability). Knowing that this would be like a knife to her heart, I wanted the audience to feel that,” Reilly explained. “(John asking Beth to move out) is sort of the ultimate rejection. Her whole life is sacrificed for him.”