The Yellowstone & Dutton Ranch Characters You'd Hate To Know In Real Life

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

It's fair to say that Taylor Sheridan knows how to write a villain. As the man behind a neo-western universe that's spawned more than a dozen original dramas, the prolific showrunner has created some of the most ruthless, Machiavellian, and downright terrifying antagonists in modern-day television. 

Most of which appear on the franchise cornerstones "Yellowstone" and "Dutton Ranch." In fact, it would be quicker to name the characters that aren't baddies in some way, shape, or form. Indeed, even the franchise's leading man is very much an antihero.

But who are the most villainous of them all? From hedge fund schemers and hitmen-hiring lawyers to fentanyl smugglers and foreman killers, not to mention two deranged brothers whose murder count adds up to a whopping 70, here's a look at the on-screen menaces you would cross the road to avoid in real life.

Okay, so there wouldn't be a "Yellowstone" without Kevin Costner's John Dutton. And like TV antiheroes such as Walter White in "Breaking Bad," Tony Soprano in "The Sopranos," and Dexter Morgan in "Dexter," plenty of viewers have still rooted for him. But his behavior is still undoubtedly that of a supervillain.

In fact, when it comes to Jamie, whom he emotionally tortured from the moment he adopted him until his death, he's downright sadistic. John constantly abuses his position as Governor of Montana. And he also added his fair share to the show's body count, ordering his son-in-law Rip Wheeler to strangle Dr. Patrick Monteith, fatally shooting Malcolm Beck in the stomach, and putting a hit out on Fred Myers — all in the name of 'family,' of course.

In an interview with Gold Derby, Costner claimed that his character — who met his maker at the hands of Sarah Atwood in the middle of the fifth season — still had at least some boundaries: "John argues or lives with his own conscience as somebody who's crossed the line. He's definitely not going into other people's property. He's definitely not going after other people's children. But when it's perceived that they're coming after him, he hits back twice as hard." Here's a look at the "Yellowstone" universe character death that split the fandom. 

"I struggle with this because I'm so close to the role, it's hard for me to see as a viewer to know," Wes Bentley, who played Jamie Dutton in "Yellowstone," admitted to Taste of Country about his character's villainous nature. "... Anything he's done really truly scary to me, he's done in name of the family ... like murder."

For everyone else, it was difficult to see how the Dutton family outsider was anything but villainous. After all, he killed Michaela Conlin's reporter Sarah Nguyen and staged it to look like a suicide after she threatened to run an expose which would bring his clan down. Several years before the events of "Yellowstone" unfolded on screen, Jamie also tricked Beth into getting a hysterectomy when she became a pregnant teenager. And he tried to kill her after learning that she and husband Rip Wheeler had given Broken Rock the 'yes' ahead of Market Equities to buy their land.

Although Jamie nearly does the deed, he's thwarted at the last minute by a heroic intervention from Wheeler before Beth recovers in time to land the killer blow. Despite all this, Bentley insists that audiences still like his character, who had a hand in adopted father John's death, too: "He is the antagonist to their concern, but they also see him as a person who is struggling and maybe acknowledging he's been abused and pushed into this behavior because of those around him."

Dan Jenkins was one of the "Yellowstone" franchise's first baddies, and he remains one of the most memorable thanks to a brilliantly weaselly performance from Danny Huston and a brutal death at the hands of the far more terrifying Beck brothers.

Californian real estate mogul Jenkins was first nearly killed by the Dutton family's ranch hands for the alliance he made with Gil Birmingham's casino boss Thomas Rainwater. The pair had wanted to construct a new gambling haven adjacent to the Yellowstone Ranch and were prepared to take all kinds of nefarious actions to make sure it went through. However, once their enemies got wind of the plan, they threatened Jenkins by hanging a noose around his neck.

The villain took the warning and ended up siding with the Duttons. Unfortunately for him, the Becks weren't so forgiving, and thanks to one of their trained assassins, Jenkins loses his life in a violent shootout. Like Wes Bentley, Huston also believes his boo-hiss character is simply misunderstood, arguing to TV Insider that he does indeed have a sense of morality and that "harm that happens to others is not something that Dan Jenkins really takes a great pleasure in." Here's a look at the real-life shady side of the cast of "Yellowstone."

It could be argued that Will Patton's Garrett Randall was the most pivotal baddie in the entire "Yellowstone" series. Had he not murdered his wife in cold blood soon after the birth of their son Jamie, then the latter wouldn't have been adopted by the Duttons and, therefore, wouldn't have caused so much chaos and carnage within their family.

On his release from jail 30 years later, Randall, who claimed that he'd killed his other half to save Jamie from a life of criminality and deprivation, tries to seek revenge on John for failing to support his case when he was in a position to do so. Unfortunately for him, the hit he puts on his nearest and dearest doesn't pay off, and news soon gets back to the Duttons who ordered it.

Randall's demise, however, comes at the hands of his own son. Yes, although he initially manages to lure Jamie over to his dark side, the latter realizes his loyalties lie with his adopted family, and he shoots his dad in the head. Still, it could have been worse. In an interview with Express before his character's fate was sealed, Patton acknowledged, "Not many people are involved with forgiveness on that show ... Everybody who comes on that show is afraid they're going to be hung upside down naked by Rip [Wheeler]."

While they undoubtedly have plenty of tough competition, Neal McDonough's Malcolm and Terry Serpico's Teal, aka the Beck brothers, are the most fearsome baddies in the "Yellowstone" franchise. Even the Dutton's poor cows weren't safe from their reign of terror.

The siblings — who arrived in the second season to put pay to Jenkins and Chief Rainwater's casino plans — also nearly burned Beth alive and, pivotally, abducted John's grandson Tate with the help of a neo-Nazi militia. Indeed, the latter proved to be a step too far for the Duttons, who subsequently went on the warpath and killed both of the Becks in retaliation.

In a behind-the-scenes YouTube feature, McDonough revealed how much he relished playing someone so evil. "One of the things I try to do with all of my villains is to make it so that everything they do is completely justified in their own brains. That's the great thing about Malcolm Beck, that there's a code of ethics, and if you cross that line, I'll do everything I have to do to bring you back onto my side, and if you don't want to come onto my side, you know what's going to happen."

Josh Holloway may have played one of the characters you rooted for on "Lost." But the man still best known as Sawyer certainly didn't have the same appeal when he entered the "Yellowstone" universe in its third season.

The actor stirred things up as Roarke Morris, an unscrupulous hedge fund manager for Market Equities who tries to rob the land owned by the Dutton family to develop it for hospitality purposes. In fact, he even wanted to build an airport. Of course, when the central clan proves to be a stumbling block, the smoothie-drinking, naked yoga-practising baddie uses everything from litigation threats to physical attacks to get his own way.

His downfall, however, is his pursuit of Beth Dutton, whose jealous husband Rip Wheeler doesn't take kindly to another man making advances on his woman. Instead of the usual punch-up or shootout, however, the rancher gets his revenge in a highly unusual manner: after approaching a fly-fishing Morris, Wheeler launches a cooler that just happens to be storing a rattlesnake at his face, and the venomous bite that results leads to his death.

Played by western veteran Boots Southerland, Wade Morrow used to be an ally of the Dutton family before he turned into their arch-nemesis, a pivot that ultimately cost him his life. But the rancher did his best to inflict as much damage as he could before heading to the dreaded body-dumping ground known as the Train Station.

On behalf of the scheming Roarke Morris, he continually harassed the Yellowstone ranch alongside son Clint, including the memorable horseback moment in which a cornered Colby and Teeter were almost trampled to death. But with Rip Wheeler in full-on vengeance-seeking mode — "I'm going to show you how to get rid of problems so they don't become problems," he tells Jefferson White's ranch hand Jimmy (via Express) — Wade soon gets his just deserts.

Southerland very much lived the "Yellowstone" life before making it onto Taylor Sheridan's pride and joy. He grew up on a Colorado ranch, is an experienced horseman, and graced the likes of "Wyatt Earp," "No Country for Old Men," and "Young Guns II."

Having portrayed everything from Captain Boomerang in "Suicide Squad" to a shark-feeding serial killer in "Dangerous Animals," Jai Courtney certainly isn't a stranger to playing the bad guy. He added to his villain resume in 2026 when he signed to play the 10 Petal Ranch's most brutal enforcer, Rob-Will Jackson, in "Dutton Ranch."

In the first season of the spinoff, the character murdered foreman Wes Ayers before disposing of his body, got into a punch-up with Yellowstone holdover Rip Wheeler, and repeatedly made his adopted sibling Joaquin's life hell. He eventually comes unstuck, however, when the latter guns him down at his own front door. 

In an interview with USA Today, Courtney revealed he was proud to fulfil such a necessary role: "You know how these shows work, we need someone coming in and messing things up. There is an antagonistic quality to Rob-Will. He's grappled with substance abuse issues, a good dose of Mommy issues, and there's some Daddy issues sprinkled in, too." Here's a closer look at Courtney's stunning transformation.

Undoubtedly the most high-profile name in the "Dutton Ranch" cast, Academy Award-nominated Hollywood veteran Annette Bening plays Beulah Jackson, the central clan's matriarch and the 10 Petal Ranch owner who will do anything to keep the family and the family business going.

That, of course, includes smuggling in fentanyl from Mexico via sewn-up cattle and deliberately sending infected livestock to her rivals. And during a flashback sequence, we learn that she broke bad long before the spinoff action unfolded on camera: on discovering that she was pregnant with Rob-Will, she murdered his father.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Bening revealed that she was loving her villain era: "What's underneath Beulah and what's really driving her is what interests me. What is behind all this need for power and control?" The "American Beauty" star is also relishing the opportunity to play Beulah across multiple seasons, adding, "That's interesting to me. Then hopefully, I can contribute something and bring a dimension to whatever ideas they have going on that makes it stronger." Here's what Bening's "Dutton Ranch" co-stars say she's like in real life.

"Dutton Ranch" first introduces Raoul Max Trujillo's Mariano Reyes as a mystery man over the phone in its third episode. But the enigma is soon uncovered in a flashback, which explains why Beulah feels so indebted to him: not only did he help get rid of the body of the abuser she killed, but he also took the blame, resulting in his self-imposed exile to Mexico.

Mariano relies on Beulah, his go-between son Joaquin, and his dealings with the Mexican cartel to build his own drug-smuggling empire in a unique way. His operation is based on sewing fentanyl packages into cattle bodies sent to the Ten Petal Ranch. His villainous streak is exemplified in the Season 1 finale when, in a vengeful move against Rip and Beth — the "Yellowstone" holdovers who try to thwart his business — he abducts their son Carter.

Expect to see plenty more of Trujillo, who worked with showrunner Taylor Sheridan in "Sicario" and its sequel "Day of the Soldado," when the spinoff returns for another helping of neo-western drama. Particularly because we've yet to see his relationship with the cartel. Here's a look at everything we know about "Dutton Ranch" Season 2.

"She looks out of place, but she's terrifying," Jacki Weaver told TV Insider ahead of her immaculately dressed Market Equities CEO Caroline Warner's "Yellowstone" debut in season four. "She takes no prisoners, treats everyone badly, and is going to add another dimension to the huge cataclysmic drama that is the Duttons."

And the Australian veteran, who played a similarly fearsome role in "Animal Kingdom," wasn't kidding. After all, it's Caroline who hires the lawyer that ends up engineering the murder of the family's head honcho! However, it's John's daughter that inadvertently sparks her reign of terror.

Indeed, realizing that it's best to keep your enemies close, Caroline offers Beth a presidential role within the company's Montana Division. But the latter isn't exactly a model employee, and after repeatedly butting heads, she was fired and promised that she and her family would be ruined.

Of course, this list wouldn't be complete without the woman who organized the killing of the "Yellowstone" universe's most dominant figure. Yes, in a shocking turn of events midway through the fifth season, Kevin Costner's patriarch John Dutton is gunned down by a hitman hired by Dawn Olivieri's lawyer Sarah Atwood.

The character was introduced by Market Equities boss Caroline Warner to help bring down the Dutton family. And Sarah, who gets into cahoots with John's vengeful adopted son Jamie while doing so, looks to have got away with murder when the governor's death is ruled suicide. But once a coroner's report reveals otherwise, she, too, is dispatched with by the panicked assassin.

Unlike several of her castmates, Atwood has no problem with her character being deemed a baddie. "The word 'villain' is sort of this overarching label that we put on the bad character that the hero is fighting against," she explained to The Hollywood Reporter. "But for me, a villain is something different. A villain is a very strong-minded, strong-willed person that maybe has a little trauma in their life early on that has created this sort of work-obsessed, power-obsessed ..."