‘Yellowstone’s Most Underrated Villain Reveals Taylor Sheridan’s Original Plan for His Unforgettable Fate [Exclusive]
The Season 2 episode “Only Devils Left” finds Dutton at a crossroads. Someone dropped a load of chemicals on his ranch, poisoning his cattle and endangering his land. He’s then approached by Malcolm Beck (Neal McDonough) and his brother Teal (Terry Serpico), who want to work with him to stop a casino from being built on the land that they think they own. When his son Jamie (Wes Bentley) points out that this is akin to making a deal with the devil, Dutton solemnly replies, “All the angels are gone, son. There’s only devils left.” In a single sentence, he nails why Yellowstone became a series worth watching.
The “Only Devils Left” Quote in ‘Yellowstone’ Captures the Series’ Moral Complexity
John Dutton saying “There’s only devils left” is a summation of the moral complexities that Yellowstone tackles throughout its run. Throughout the series, the Duttons are forced to bend or outright break laws to keep their ranch safe. Jamie is forced to use his skills as a lawyer on behalf of the family to get them out of legal trouble. Rip (Cole Hauser) has literally buried the bodies of the Duttons’ enemies. Even Dutton’s youngest son, Kayce (Luke Grimes), is forced to take some morally grey actions during the series. Taylor Sheridan discussed this during an interview with The Atlantic, saying that he wanted to explore the lengths the Duttons would go to protect their land.
“This was one of the fundamental things I wanted to look at: When you have a kingdom, and you are the king, is there such a thing as morality? Because anyone trying to take your kingdom and remove you as king is going to replace your morality for theirs. So does morality factor into the defense of the kingdom? And what does that make the king? And at the end of the day, that’s really what the show is about.”
The alliance between the Duttons and the Becks is a clear example of this. Despite the Becks offering an alliance, Dutton isn’t willing to take it, leading them to kidnap Kayce’s son Tate. In retaliation, the Duttons storm the Becks’ compound, rescue Tate, and gun down the brothers in cold blood. During “Only Devils Left,” Dutton warns Malcolm, “I consider every option, Malcolm. And I choose the one that’s best for my family.” Unfortunately for the Becks, his best option when dealing with them was to kill them, backing up Sheridan’s words about a king being willing to protect his kingdom at any cost.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe QuizWhich Taylor SheridanShow Do You Belong In?Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
FIND YOUR WORLD →
01
Where does your power come from?In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
ALand, legacy, and a name that’s been feared and respected for generations.BKnowing the deal better than anyone else in the room — and being willing to walk away first.CReputation. I’ve earned it the hard way, and everyone in the room knows it.DBeing the only person both sides will talk to. That makes me indispensable — and dangerous.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
Who do you put first, no matter what?Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
AFamily — blood or chosen. The ranch, the name, the people who carry it with me.BThe company — or whoever’s signing the cheques. Loyalty follows the contract.CMy crew. The men who stood with me when it counted — I don’t abandon them for anything.DMy community — even when my community is a powder keg and I’m the only thing stopping it from blowing.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond?Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
AQuietly, decisively, and in a way that sends a message to everyone watching.BI outmanoeuvre them legally, financially, and politically before they even know I’ve moved.CDirectly. Old school. You cross me, you hear about it to your face — and then you deal with the consequences.DI absorb it, calculate the fallout, and find the move that keeps the whole system from collapsing.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
Where do you feel most in your element?Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
AWide open land — mountains, sky, silence. Somewhere you can see trouble coming from a mile away.BThe oil fields of West Texas — brutal, lucrative, and indifferent to whoever happens to be standing on top of them.CA mid-size city where the rules haven’t quite caught up yet — fertile ground for someone with vision and nerve.DA rust-belt town built around a prison — where everyone’s life is shaped by what’s inside those walls.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey?Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
AI do what has to be done to protect what’s mine. I’ll answer for it eventually — but not today.BGrey is just business. The line moves depending on what’s at stake, and I move with it.CI have a code — it’s not the law’s code, but it’s mine, and I don’t break it.DI’ve made peace with it. Keeping the peace requires compromises most people don’t have the stomach for.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto?Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
AA way of life that the modern world is doing everything it can to erase.BMy position — and the leverage that comes with being the person everyone needs to close a deal.CRelevance. I’ve been away, I’ve been written off — and I’m proving that was a mistake.DWhatever fragile order I’ve managed to build — because without it, everything burns.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
How do you lead?Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
ABy example and force of will. People follow me because they believe in what I’m protecting — and because they know what happens if they don’t.BThrough negotiation and leverage. I don’t need people to like me — I need them to need me.CBy being the smartest, most experienced person in the room and making sure everyone quietly knows it.DBy being the calm centre of a situation that would spiral without me — and accepting that nobody thanks you for it.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction?Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
AThey’ll learn. Or they won’t. Either way, the land was here before them and it’ll be here after.BI figure out what they want, what they’re worth, and whether they’re an asset or a problem — fast.CI was the outsider once. I give them a chance — one — to show they understand respect.DNew players destabilise everything I’ve built. I assess the threat and manage it before it manages me.
NEXT QUESTION →
09
What has your position cost you?Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
AMy family’s peace — maybe their innocence. The ranch demands everything, and I’ve let it take too much.BRelationships, time, any version of a normal life. The job eats everything that isn’t nailed down.CYears. Decades in some cases. Time I can’t get back — but I’m not done yet.DMy conscience, mostly. And the ability to ever fully trust anyone on either side of the wall.
NEXT QUESTION →
10
When it’s over, what do you want people to say?Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
AThat I held the line. That the land is still ours and everything I did was worth it.BThat I was the best at what I did and that no deal ever got closed without me at the table.CThat I built something real, somewhere nobody expected it, and I did it on my own terms.DThat I kept the peace when nobody else could — and that the town is still standing because of it.
REVEAL MY SHOW →
Sheridan Has SpokenYou Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
Taylor Sheridan Would Apply the ‘Yellowstone’ Mentality to His Other Shows
The success of Yellowstone allowed Taylor Sheridan to create a veritable television empire, including spinoff series like Y: Marshals and Dutton Ranch, in addition to Tulsa King and Mayor of Kingstown. Whether connected to Yellowstone or not, these series share a common thread: morally grey protagonists. Tulsa King‘s protagonist, Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone), is a bona fide gangster, while Mayor of Kingstown focuses on Mike McLusky (Jeremy Renner) navigating a web of corruption in his hometown. Dutton Ranch is the best example, as Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) finds herself making the same morally gray choices that her father did to protect her new home.
Yellowstone evolved into a compelling series once it showed that its characters were willing to go to any lengths necessary to protect what’s theirs. John Dutton might think there are only devils left in the world, but angels definitely have to be smiling on Taylor Sheridan due to his success.
Yellowstone stars Kevin Costner and centers on his character John Dutton. Dutton and his family live on a cattle ranch just a few hours away from Yellowstone National Park. The series chronicles the family’s struggle to defend their home from an Indian reservation and land developers. As if their life wasn’t complicated enough, the Duttons also have medical issues, political aspirations, and family secrets stacked against them.
Specifications
- Release Date
- 2018-06-20
- Finale Year
- 2024
- Rating
- TV-MA
- Genres
- Western (Genre), Drama (Genre)
- Network
- Paramount Network (Network)
- Showrunner
- Taylor Sheridan (Person)
- Cast
- Kevin Costner (Person), Luke Grimes (Person), Kelly Reilly (Person), Wes Bentley (Person), Cole Hauser (Person), Kelsey Asbille (Person), Brecken Merrill (Person), Jefferson White (Person), Danny Huston (Person), Ryan Bingham (Person), Finn Little (Person), Ian Bohen (Person), Forrie J. Smith (Person), Denim Richards (Person), Dave Annable (Person), Jennifer Landon (Person), Kathryn Kelly (Person), Gil Birmingham (Person), Mo Brings Plenty (Person), Jill Hennessy (Person), Jeremiah Bitsui (Person), J.R. Cacia (Person), Morgan Lund (Person), Jeremy Hoop (Person), David H. Stevens (Person)
- Directors
- Stephen Kay (Person), Taylor Sheridan (Person), Christina Alexandra Voros (Person), Guy Ferland (Person), John Dahl (Person)
- Creator(s)
- Taylor Sheridan (Person), John Linson (Person)
- Writers
- John Coveny (Person), Ian McCulloch (Person)
- Franchise(s)
- Yellowstone (Franchise)
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