‘Yellowstone': Why Young Lloyd Looked So Much Like Actor Forrie J. Smith
A Yellowstone flashback scene finds young Rip Wheeler sauntering through the bunkhouse around an anonymous group of cowboys. One man looked familiar, however: Modern day bunkhouse veteran Lloyd was represented in this 20-years-ago clip.
Fans who watched Sunday night's (Nov. 13) Season 5 premiere couldn't help but notice the similarities between Lloyds young and old. It's the eyes, and nose and cleft of the chin ...
Lloyd Pierce is played by veteran actor and cowboy Forrie J. Smith. He's the oldest of the bunkhouse boys and — more or less — keeps order, even if during Season 4 he helped instigate a pretty violent fight with Walker that ended with the two men battling in the rodeo circle (spoiler alert: Lloyd wins, but Rip breaks his hand).
The younger Lloyd is played by Smith's real-life son, Forest Smith. He has subbed in on the show before, but this extended scene and a few lines of dialogue really grabbed people's attention during the Paramount Network premiere. In this flashback, Rip is preparing to take Beth Dutton out on a date and is less than generous when Lloyd (his mentor) asks where he's headed.
"Not one good thing happens in town, Rip," Lloyd shares.
He ends up being right, but the way he says it and the look he gives is worth more than the short exchange.
The two-episode Season 5 premiere of Yellowstone also included flashback sequences involving young John Dutton (Josh Lucas) and young Beth Dutton (Kylie Rogers). Young Rip is played by Kyle Red Silverstein.
Should creator Taylor Sheridan every decide to do a late '90s prequel to the show, he'd have half the cast locked down. So far the only confirmed prequels are 1883 and 1923, the latter of which begins in a month.