Yellowstone’s Confusing Timeline: When Dutton Ranch Happens Compared To Marshals

Warning: SPOILERS for Dutton Ranch Season 1, Episode 1 – “The Untold Want” & Episode 2 – “Earn Another Day”Dutton Ranch continues Yellowstone‘s timeline, but Taylor Sheridan’s latest spinoff muddies the waters and creates some confusion at the outset. Executive produced by Sheridan, Dutton Ranch was created by Chad Feehan, and continues the story of Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) after Yellowstone.

At the end of Yellowstone‘s series finale, Beth and Rip settle on their own ranch, with their adopted son Carter (Finn Little), 40 miles west of Dillon, Montana. The happily married Dutton-Wheelers left the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch behind after Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) sold their family’s land back to the Broken Rock Reservation.

Dutton Ranch shifts Beth and Rip’s story to South Texas, where they set up a new ranch in Rio Paloma. With Rip herding cattle and running a smaller outfit, Beth creates a new business selling beef. Yet the Dutton-Wheelers can’t help but make new enemies, chiefly Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening), who runs the proprietary 10-Petals Ranch.

Dutton Ranch Happens One Year After Yellowstone Ends

Confirmed by Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser in an interview with People, Dutton Ranch takes place one year after the end of Yellowstone. This timeline is similar to CBS’ Marshals, which also picks up Kayce and Tate Dutton’s (Brecken Merrill) story a year after they left the Yellowstone for East Camp.

Dutton Ranch begins with a rare, idyllic peace for Beth and Rip, who remain deeply in love. Tragically, their blissful ride into the Montana mountains is devastated by a wildfire that claims their ranch and much of the surrounding area of Dillon, Montana. This forces Beth and Rip’s move to Texas.

After the fire, Dutton Ranch‘s series premiere picks up six months later. Following this time jump, Beth and Rip are now running the renamed Dutton Ranch and trying to launch a wholesale beef business. Dutton Ranch episode 2, “Earn Another Day,” features flashbacks to how Beth and Rip bought what was formerly the Edwards Ranch in Rio Paloma.

Within Dutton Ranch’s context, the series’ timeline appears cut-and-dry. However, when plugged into the greater post-Yellowstone timeline and how Dutton Ranch lines up with Kayce Dutton’s Marshals, the two Yellowstone sequels’ trajectories aren’t quite so clear-cut and harmonious.

Dutton Ranch & Marshals’ Post-Yellowstone Timeline Is Confusing

Dutton Ranch set one year after Yellowstone is confusing because Dutton Ranch‘s series premiere contains a six-month time jump. The fire in Dillon, Montana, is a flashback set six months before Dutton Ranch‘s present-day in Rio Paloma. So, does ‘one year later’ mean the fire in Dillon happened one year after Yellowstone?

Or is it one year later when Dutton Ranch begins with Beth and Rip’s story in Rio Paloma? At that point, Beth and Rip have already owned their South Texas ranch for six months, since Dutton Ranch episode 2’s flashbacks established that they went to Texas immediately after the fire, after Rip got a tip about the Edwards Ranch from Walker (Ryan Bingham).

Marshals‘ series timeline creates its own post-Yellowstone timeline quandaries. Marshals episode 6 has a memorial for Monica Long Dutton (Kelsey Asbille), who died one year prior. It’s not clear when Monica got cancer after Yellowstone ended and how long she had it.

Marshals episode 2 references Rip and episode 7 name-dropped Beth. Kayce called Rip to supply extra ranch hands to tend to East Camp after Kayce joined the U.S. Marshals. When in Dutton Ranch‘s timeline did that phone call take place? Were Beth and Rip still in Montana before the fire, or were they already in Rio Paloma?

Aspects of Yellowstone‘s timeline have always been fuzzy, regardless of how many prequels and sequels/spinoffs continue to add to the Duttons’ family legacy. A future Dutton Ranch and Marshals crossover, if it happens, may clarify the post-Yellowstone timeline.

Regardless, Kayce and Beth’s spinoffs, Marshals and Dutton Ranch, co-exist and move the Duttons’ story forward in different states and on different networks.

Release Date

May 15, 2026

Network

Paramount+

Showrunner

Chad Feehan

Directors

Christina Alexandra Voros

Writers

Taylor Sheridan, John Linson, Chad Feehan, Hayley Tibbenham, Hilary Bettis, J. Todd Scott, Jacob Forman, K.C. Scott