While the hiatuses ahead of Yellowstone's second and third seasons were obviously long and required much patience to get through, the wait for Yellowstone Season 4 seems purposefully designed to be as arduous and drawn out as possible. Paramount Network has yet to release a single iota of official information about the upcoming season, and similarly hasn't shared any trailers, teasers or first-look images. But amidst this Yellowstone drought, star Cole Hauser may have inadvertently given fans hope for Rip and Kelly Reilly's Beth to have a future beyond the potentially deadly explosion in Beth's office.
Take this all with a grain of salt, or perhaps an entire salt lick, but while taking part in an Emmy consideration interview for Deadline, Cole Hauser was asked to discuss his character Rip's complicated relationship with, and long-held affection for, Kelly Reilly's Beth. And when answering, Hauser's particular wording seemingly tipped a hat to the idea that Beth not only survived the assassination attempt on her life, but that her and Rip's relationship also survived. Here's how he put it:
As far as Rip’s concerned, that was his first and his only love from when he was 15 years old. I think time stopped for him and he realized how really special she was and how she could give to his life , and teach him things that he needs to go through as far as being a young man. And also, the fact that he has lost her a lot as well over time. I love what Taylor did in the beginning. He kinda made it a slow burn for us, and it has taken four years now for us to really investigate their relationship, and who they are as people, and how their hearts beat. And it has been a pleasure, obviously, to do that with Kelly.
Naturally, Cole Hauser didn't come right out and say, "Hey, Beth is still alive, y'all!" He's not that foolhardy about details. However, he did make the curious choice to say it has taken "four years now" for Rip and Beth to reach something of an emotional apex with their relationship. Audiences have only seen them together for three seasons now, obviously, so it would seem he's also referring to Season 4 there, right?
On the flip side, it's also easy to assume that Cole Hauser may have just been referring to how long they've been working together behind the scenes. However, Yellowstone started its production in 2017, which would make it five years now that they've been co-stars. It's certainly possible he just wasn't counting 2021 in that at all for one reason or another, but it's obviously hard to know for sure.
The Occam's Razor solution for all this is that Cole Hauser was speaking generally and did not actually spoil anything about Season 4, accidentally or otherwise. But it still curious. Also, it easily matches up with expectations that Yellowstone wouldn't possibly kill off one of its most popular characters in such a wild way. So even if Hauser isn't the one who spilled the beans, I still hope the outcome is the same. I'm pretty sure not even a natural disaster would attempt to hurt Beth on purpose, so I'm fully expecting for her to be alive and raging out on anyone and everyone, with Rip right there next to her.
Yellowstone Season 4 will make its way to Paramount Network and its rabid fanbase at some point this summer, so stay tuned for trailer and a release date hopefully coming soon. As if we didn't already have enough to speculate about with both the prequel spinoff and the Texas-set spinoff.
