With over ten months having passed since Yellowstone's deadly Season 3 finale aired, Paramount Network finally let fans know when Season 4 will come around to showcase the aftermath of the attacks on the various Dutton family members. Sure, having to wait until the fall sucks, but at least we're pretty sure Kevin Costner's John Dutton is going to survive long enough for Cole Hauser's Rip to save him. That said, we have yet to learn what happened to Kelly Reilly's Beth or Luke Grimes' Kayce, and a new Season 4 teaser promo is a major sign that death is on the way.
Check out the Instagram video below to see Yellowstone's symbolic approach in foreshadowing somebody joining the choir invisible, and why fans can probably hold out hope that it won't be either the Duttons or Jefferson White's rodeo-riding Jimmy.
While Yellowstone didn't come right out and show fans tombstones for any of the drama's heavy-hitters, I think we can all agree that bringing a crow into the mix is definitely an indication that death is on the horizon. I guess it could technically be a sign that John Dutton is a huge fan of Brandon Lee's final film, but that's probably a little too random for Yellowstone's second Season 4 promo. No, it looks very much like things are going to get bloody and (temporarily) painful for certain folks when the show returns, and the fact that the crow is coupled with the season's "Revenge is worth the wait" tagline makes it very likely that the Dutton family is going to go on a retaliatory rampage in Season 4, though probably after doing some healing first.
With three different-but-coordinated attacks on John Dutton and his children, fans can't be 100% sure that a single threat is responsible for them all, but it's not exactly the hardest assumption to guess that some of the less virtuous members of the Market Equities team were behind Kayce and John's assaults and Beth's office bombing. The fact that Season 4 will introduce Jacki Weaver as the CEO of Market Equities proves the narrative is digging deeper into this land-seeking group, and we all know John isn't going to roll over and give anyone what they want, regardless of it's his enemies or his children. And especially not if he's in vengeance mode.
While "Revenge is worth the wait" initially seemed like it was more of a self-aware tagline directed at fans who have suffered through months of radio silence about Season 4's impending debut, it seems very clear now that it's a reflection of what viewers will see in Season 4. Which means we probably shouldn't expect the season premiere to immediately jump into Rip Wheeler going full torture porn on a motherfucker. But it. Is. Coming. Even if it was only Kayce who suffered an attack, Rip would still whoop the shit out of whoever responsible, but when Beth and John are also thrown in there? I'll be surprised if Rip doesn't murder an entire town just to make sure the guilty party has been brought to justice.
Not to rain on any fans' parade, but just because the crow SEEMS like it's only there in correlation with the idea of Dutton-fueled revenge, it's not like there are any guarantees in this teaser that John, Beth, Kayce and Jimmy will all survive their respective situations. Jimmy knocked himself out after falling off of his horse, scaring some fans, but considering he's already tapped to head up the Yellowstone spinoff tentatively titled 6666, I can't see how he'd get killed off on the flagship drama. For now, we'll remain hopeful that all the Duttons will survive each of the upcoming Season 4 episodes, just as it goes before every season starts.
Yellowstone has yet to confirm a concrete premiere date for its return to Paramount Network for Season 4, but while waiting to hear more updates, be sure to check out all the 2021 Summer TV shows that will pop up before then.
