‘Yellowstone’ Star Gil Birmingham Hopes Fans Will ‘Open Their Hearts’ to ‘Authentic’ Indigenous Ceremonies
Yellowstone is about to wrap its much-anticipated Season 4, and viewers are getting a glimpse of some authentic indigenous ceremonies. In an interview with Taste of Country, Yellowstone star Gil Birmingham (Thomas Rainwater) says he hopes audiences will "open their hearts" to the accurate portrayal of native culture.
Yellowstone Season 4 began with epic violence in response to John Dutton (Kevin Costner), Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) and Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) coming under concerted attack. Bandits also attacked the Dutton ranch, where Tate (Brecken Merrill) was obliged to use deadly force to protect his mom, Monica (Kelsey Asbille), delivering a fatal shotgun blast in the kitchen.
Season 4 has already shown Tate working out his residual angst via several sessions in a sweat lodge, and in the most recent Episode 9 of Season 4, Kayce also takes part in an indigenous ceremony to try to find out what's happening with the wolf he keeps seeing at odd moments in his family's life.
That's something that Birmingham foreshadowed in an interview with Taste of Country prior to Season 4.
"There's some violence that's going to be inflicted," he said prior to the season's launch. "But there's some healing ceremonies that we're gonna hopefully be able to share with the television community in a way that's respectful and authentic ... to try to help people understand a little bit more of the culture of indigenous people. Because the more they understand, the more they can open their hearts to it."
Yellowstone's Season 4 will wrap with Episode 10 on Sunday (Jan. 2).
Tune in to Yellowstone every Sunday at 8PM ET on the Paramount Network to keep track of the latest, and stay tuned to Taste of Country as we provide week-to-week coverage of Yellowstone and the first season of the new prequel 1883, including episode analysis, news on the shows, cast interviews and more.
As part of our comprehensive coverage, check out the Dutton Rules podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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