Kelsey Asbille Shares How Emotional Scene With Kevin Costner Changes ‘Yellowstone’ Season 5
Yellowstone's Season 5 Episode 4 featured one of the most emotionally powerful scenes of the season so far, and in a new interview, actor Kelsey Asbille says it's the catalyst for an important change.
Asbille's character, Monica Dutton, has spent Season 5 in mourning so far after the death of her baby boy, John, who only lived for an hour after a devastating car accident that took place at the end of the season premiere.
In Episode 4, she and her husband, Kayce (Luke Grimes), buried the boy in an indigenous ceremony on the Dutton Yellowstone Ranch, and after the ceremony, hard-bitten Dutton patriarch John Dutton (Kevin Costner) — the baby's namesake — approached her in a rare moment of vulnerability, revealing that he had once had a brother, Peter, who died after 18 hours. The incident turned his mother hard.
"That boy had a perfect life," John told Monica of his grandson. "All he knew was you and that you loved him."
It's a powerful moment of closure for Monica, and in an interview with Taste of Country that took place in early November, while she was in New York City for a press junket in advance of Season 5 of Yellowstone, Asbille says it's a moment that will change her character's arc, which has been one of deep sorrow.
"There's a really definitive moment for Monica, actually, when she speaks to John Dutton at the funeral," she states. "And I think it's in that moment that she chooses life."
Asbille says portraying the grieving mother has been the biggest challenge of the season.
"Going through that Monica goes through, I think you really wanna do that storyline justice," she tells us. "And also all of the really messy, human, complicated feelings that come with it, which, I think [Yellowstone co-creator] Taylor [Sheridan] does a really good job of writing this arc for her."
Asbille hints that her character's Season 5 storyline isn't all dark. It involves "how she finds healing, as well," she shares.
Yellowstone airs Sunday nights on Paramount Network. Season 5 is an extra-long season consisting of 14 episodes, which are slated to air in two arcs of seven episodes apiece.
As part of Taste of Country's comprehensive coverage of all things Yellowstone, check out our Dutton Rules podcast on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.