Yellowstone's major Dutton Ranch kill is probably worse than you think

Rob-Will’s (Jai Courtney) death in the Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Wheeler’s (Cole Hauser) Yellowstone spinoff could be even worse than Dutton Ranch Season 1’s finale made it out to be. Things aren’t always what they seem in Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone universe. That said, since Rob-Will’s death happened off-screen, the possibilities, at this point, are virtually endless.

Dutton Ranch debuted in May 2026, picking up the story of the original Yellowstone series that Kevin Costner led as John Dutton, the owner of the legendary Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. The spinoff caught on quickly with fans of the flagship, amassing 12.9 million viewers in its first week and becoming Paramount+’s biggest original series premiere of all time.

Rob-Will’s Off-Screen Death Leaves His Murderer Open To Interpretation

The only surviving biological son of Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening), Rob-Will, is murdered in the finale of Dutton Ranch Season 1, and context heavily implies that it was his brother, Joaquin (Juan Pablo Raba). When Joaquin calls his father to tell him about Beulah handing the ranch over to Rob-Will, Mariano Reyes (Raoul Max Trujillo) returns, catalyzing the finale’s events.

Mariano instructs Beulah to reverse her decision, announcing that her adopted son, Joaquin, will inherit the prestigious 10-Petal Ranch. He also sends armed men to kill Beth and Rip for discovering and interfering with the cartel smuggling fentanyl across the border in cattle shipments to the Jackson family’s outfit. Lastly, Mariano instructs Joaquin to kill his brother, Rob-Will.

Later that evening, after Rob-Will gets home for the night, Joaquin pulls up to the house and loads his gun, then sits in contemplation. As Rob-Will checks in on his daughter, Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind), there’s a knock at the door, and moments later, Oreana finds her father dead on the floor with a bullet wound to his head.

After Beulah walks in and discovers her biological son shot dead, Joaquin is shown in the same car that Oreana saw driving away after the murder. Joaquin is clearly distraught, and looks to the passenger seat where he’s rested his gun. That said, since the kill happened off-screen, nothing is set in stone until Dutton Ranch Season 2.

Who Killed Rob-Will In Dutton Ranch Season 1’s Finale?

There’s a good chance that Dutton Ranch intentionally portrays Joaquin as the murderer when, in reality, Season 2 will reveal a culprit that audiences didn’t see coming. Joaquin could have been contemplating killing his brother, while someone else stepped in and did the job. Therefore, Joaquin’s complex emotions could be from the panic of discovering that someone else executed Rob-Will.

The actor who plays Joaquin in Dutton Ranch went so far as to say he didn’t think his character committed the murder. “I don’t think he did it,” Raba told Entertainment Weekly, “Because he's not a killer. He's not even a cowboy, for Christ's sake. He has never shot anyone in his life,” maintaining a level of skepticism that’s warranted.

Raba said that until there’s an actual scene of him executing the kill, he “wouldn’t be so sure.” He suggests that his character’s father, Mariano, could have had a “backup plan,” even suggesting Rob-Will’s own mother, Beulah, could have been the one to kill him, wondering, “Did Mariano called Beulah and say, ‘Hey, take care of this or I will?”

The actor points to Beulah killing Rob-Will’s father, with flashbacks in Dutton Ranch Episode 7 showing a young Beulah Jackson discovering that she was pregnant after a sexual assault, and revealing that she was a cold-blooded killer. In fact, Beulah ringing the doorbell, executing a kill, and then driving away is exactly how she killed her child's father.

Beulah seems to be in genuine shock, but the actor is right that Joaquin could have refused his father’s orders, and Mariano could have called Beulah in to kill her son, perhaps threatening her if she refused. Unspoken tension also rises between Beulah and Rob-Will as he ignores her calls in the finale, siding with Mariano Reyes and the cartel.

Beulah could also have sent her right-hand man, Miguel (Berto Colon), to kill Rob-Will. Mariano once covered up Beulah committing murder, and could have cashed in some old blackmail to see that things went his way. Regardless, there’s room for interpretation. The only person that audiences can rule out for certain is Oreana, who was shown on-screen during the kill.

Source: Entertainment Weekly