Yellowstone's Wes Bentley Pinpoints Why Jamie Isn't Always Easy To Play
Season 5 of "Yellowstone" premiere on November 13 couldn't have come sooner for fans who've been waiting over 10 months for the new season to begin. That's a long time to be sitting on the edge of your seat and biting your nails given what happened in the Season 4 finale — especially now that the showdown between Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) and Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) has resulted in Jamie murdering Garrett. Beth now holds the proof of the murder over his head as a form of blackmail to keep him from betraying the family again — but how long will that last?
During a recent interview with Us Weekly, Bentley confessed that Jamie hasn't always been the easiest character for him to play. And it has a lot to do with the way he and his family interact with one another. Will things change this season, or will the Duttons keep on Duttoning him down to the bottom of the family totem pole? His fate remains to be seen, but Bentley (and many viewers) have a strong desire to see his character development go in a very specific direction.
Bentley (and fans) want Jamie to grow a spine
In that exclusive Us Weekly interview, Bentley does feel the occasional bout of despair whenever Jamie refuses to stand up to his family. "Every scene I read, it's like, 'What are you doing, man? Fight back!'...But we all get in these moments where something keeps you from that. And Jamie, it's hard to play him for that reason." That's a perfectly understandable sentiment. It's the actor's job to get into the mind of his character in order to portray them as accurately as possible; but when your character makes the kind of choices that you personally wouldn't make in real life, it makes the job that much harder.
It seems like Bentley would be relieved if Jamie's character arc this season has him rise above his family's pettiness and finally make a play to live his own life on his terms. And this Jamie appreciation thread on Reddit is full of comments from people who feel the same. The original poster /u/Premier_23 is a strong advocate for Jamie's character and doesn't understand why the Dutton family treats him like the bad guy on those rare occasions when he tries to stand up for himself. Similarly, /u/Entire-Librarian-741 thinks Jamie is the most real character in the entire show, and many of the comments in that thread agree that he deserves better. Whether Bentley and viewers will get that happy ending, though, remains to be seen. But anyone who's interested in finding out can start with the Season 5 premiere.