With Kevin Costner not returning to play John Dutton, and Yellowstone’s final episodes of Season 5 approaching, I’m wondering who his successor will be. Technically, there are four options, Kayce or Beth, his biological children, Jamie, his adopted son, and Rip, Beth’s husband and John’s longtime ranchhand. However, after seeing the first teaser trailer for the upcoming episodes, I have a bold theory about who will be named as the leader of the Yellowstone.

Where The Characters Stand After Yellowstone’s Teaser

In preparation for Yellowstone’s November 10 premiere on the 2024 TV schedule, Paramount dropped a teaser (which you can see above) titled “Generations.” As we know from Taylor Sheridan’s other shows about the Duttons, the Yellowstone ranch has been in their family for well over 100 years. John’s primary drive in the flagship show that takes place in the present was based on making sure it stayed that way.

Well, now John is gone, and one of his kids will likely take over the ranch.

In the teaser, we get a sense of where all the primary characters are at mentally going into the battle that will be Season 5’s final episodes. Overall, it seems like all the struggles they’ve been facing will reach a head.

The trailer shows Kayce saying that he’s doing this (however, whatever “this” is was not disclosed) for his family, not the ranch. If you ask me, it also seems like he’s headed into self-destruct mode.

On top of that, Jamie and Beth’s feud is looking like it’s about to explode on a whole new level. Between Jamie working to take down his dad, and Beth really doing everything she can to make sure her brother fails, it feels like a nuclear situation. That means what lies ahead for them could be mutually assured destruction.

Then there’s Rip. At the end of Season 5A, he was headed south with the cows and bunkhouse boys. In the trailer, he’s seen talking to Lloyd about how they’ve spent their whole lives on the Montana ranch.

So, between Jamie and Beth going at it and Kayce seemingly headed down a dark and dangerous path of his own, it leads me to believe that Rip is the only person who can take over the Yellowstone.

I Think Rip Is The Only One Who Can Take Over The Ranch

Now, I by no means think it’s outlandish to believe that Rip will take over the ranch. He is married to Beth, who is John’s daughter, so he’s legally part of the family. On top of that, he’s proven to be arguably the most loyal member of the bunkhouse boys. However, the wildness of this claim comes from the notion that I think he’s the only person who can take over the Yellowstone.

The trailer shows Beth, Jamie and Kayce on paths to ruin in my opinion, while Rip is the only character who seems to truly understand his place at the ranch and the importance of it. He gets John’s vision, while the kids don’t, and I think between his wife and her brothers fighting over it and their own battles as well as Rip’s proven loyalty to the land, he’s the only good successor.

Plus, the key art (which you can see above) revealed with the teaser shows one man standing in a graveyard. As the trailer alluded generations of bloodshed have led to this moment, and the all-out war will likely lead to one true victor, and I think that’ll be Rip.

So, as we prepare for Yellowstone’s final episodes of Season 5, I’ll be using a Peacock subscription to go back and watch the previous seasons to try and figure out who is going to take over for John and why all evidence seems to point to Cole Hauser’s character Rip.