With the highly-anticipated return of Yellowstone on Sunday, fans have been delving into a theory that could prove
prophetic for the series finale.
Yellowstone has been a massive hit for Paramount Network, even spawning two spin-offs, 1883 and 1923.
The first spin-off, 1883, follows the Dutton family as they find what would be the start of their sprawling Montana ranch.
The spin-off’s finale includes a scene where John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) great-great grandfather James Dillard Dutton (Tim McGraw) has a fateful chat with an Crow tribe elder named Spotted Eagle (Graham Greene)
Many believe this brief conversation serves as foreshadowing for what’s to come when Yellowstone comes to an end.
1883 followed James Dillard Dutton, his wife Margaret (Faith Hill) and their kids Elsa (Isabel May) and John Sr. (Audie Rick) as they leave westward from Tennessee after the Civil War.
Elsa was wounded when she was struck by an arrow in the penultimate episode, and in the finale, her father James realizes she’s going to die.
With no doctor to help her, James decides to ride with his teenage daughter, stating, ‘where she dies is where we’ll stay.’
He’s given a suggestion by Spotted Eagle, who tells him, ‘I know a place for you. You go through that pass, and you follow the river south. I used to hunt that valley as a boy. The winters are cruel, but the summers are rich and a man who plans can thrive. And you look like a man who plan.’
When James asks what the name of the valley is, Spotted Eagle tells him he doesn’t know the word in English but says, ‘When you die, you go there.’
James suggests, ‘Heaven,’ but Spotted Eagle says it isn’t that, as James adds, ‘Paradise,’ which Spotted Eagle affirms… before the prophetic warning.
‘But you know this: that in seven generations, my people will rise up and take it back from you,’ Spotted Eagle says.
James Dutton responds, ‘In seven generations, you can have it,’ before riding out with Elsa, stopping on the land that would become the sprawling Yellowstone Dutton Ranch.
There have been multiple mentions of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch surviving for seven generations on Yellowstone.
If this prophecy is true, then it could mean the end of the Dutton family’s legacy on that massive plot of land.
Interestingly enough, Kayce Dutton’s (Luke Grimes) son Tate (Brecken Merrill) is half-Indian on his mother Monica’s (Kelsey Asbile) side, so perhaps he could be integral in this theory.
Fans will find out for certain when the back half of Season 5 returns with the first of six new episodes airing Sunday, November 13 on Paramount Network.
