After carrying on the character for five seasons, Denim Richards is saying goodbye to Colby in Yellowstone season 5 part B. Richards began his career making guest appearances in everything from Disney Channel’s Good Luck Charlie to MTV’s Catfish: The Show, though would find his first big role with Freeform’s Good Trouble, starring in six of the dramedy’s 88 episodes. Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone would be his biggest role to date, starring in the neo-Western drama as Colby Mayfield, one of the cowboys working on the Dutton ranch.
Yellowstone season 5 part B’s story has seen Colby and the other Dutton Ranch cowboys split up, with Rip and half of the others going down to Texas to watch over the cattle after the land became contaminated, while Colby and the rest stayed back in Montana to watch over the land. Following the shocking deaths of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton III and Dawn Oliveri’s Sarah, Richards’ character joined the roster of surprise fatalities in episode 12, “Counting Coup”, being accidentally killed by a wild horse while trying to save Finn Little’s Carter.
Alongside Richards and Oliveri, the Yellowstone season 5 part B cast includes the returns of Wes Bentley as Jamie and Kelly Reilly as Beth, Luke Grimes, Kelsey Asbille, Cole Hauser, Brecken Merrill, Jefferson White, Gil Birmingham, Ryan Bingham, Wendy Moniz and Forrie J. Smith. Showcasing that the stakes of the world go beyond Jamie and Beth’s war, the final season of Sheridan’s hit show is proving more unpredictable than ever.
Following the show’s recent episode, ScreenRant interviewed Denim Richards to discuss Yellowstone season 5 part B, how he feels about saying goodbye to the neo-Western drama, filming Colby’s death scene, how it will impact the cowboys in the final episodes of the show, how Colby would’ve reacted if his and Teeter’s fates were flipped, and his thoughts on reuniting with Sheridan on another show in the future.
Richards Has “A Myriad Of Emotions” About Leaving Yellowstone Behind
He Also Learned About Colby’s Fate Shortly After Filming Began
Denim, it’s great to get to chat with you. I admittedly came on the Yellowstone bandwagon late, but I love that I am on it now. I want to start by asking you just a general question about how it feels for you coming to the end of this mainline show after being with it for so many seasons?
Denim Richards: You have a myriad of emotions that come. But at the end of all of it, you realize that everything good ends, and you just have to appreciate the journey. As I’ve kind of said, I feel like this has been very much an exercise in what you want your career path to look like, and an opportunity to be around tremendous people. I’ve learned so much about the craft and the art and professionalism and business and because of, not only Taylor, but with 101 Studios, and with Paramount. I met so many of them, and have such a great relationship.
So, to be on a show that is a once-in-a-generational type of show, of course, is a phenomenal thing, and no matter what happens, no one can ever take that away. So, it’s been such a beautiful ride, and I’m excited, because the fans have received it in such a tremendous way. We have some of the most loyal and very patient fans, so for the show to still be getting the numbers and the reception that it’s getting, even after our 18-month layoff, is pretty amazing.
There’s been so much talk of secrecy, not only about Kevin Costner’s potential return, but how the show will wrap up as a whole, and as we saw in this week’s episode, Colby also unfortunately died. When did you learn about that and how secretive did you have to be about that from your castmates?
Denim Richards: I learned about it in May so it’s been a while, a couple months now, of holding that in. And, of course, it becomes a little bit challenging at times when you are doing upfronts and interviews, and everybody’s talking about, like, “Oh, so, Colby and Teeter, are they finally gonna get together in this?” Everybody has their own theories about how something’s gonna go down. And you’re like, “Anything’s possible!” [Laughs] You kind of have to be very general about it, but for us, as artists, we all talk, and we share the information that we feel is pertinent, and that needs to be shared, because outside the characters, we really exist.
We’ve all gotten so close over the last six, seven years, so you have conversations, but at the end of it, we’re all professionals. We understand that Taylor has invested so much time, energy and effort, as well as Paramount, 101, and finances, into creating this show. Nobody wants to sell them short, or the audience short, by leaking something. So it definitely made sense, because you wanted everybody, you wanted all these moments, to land with the full gravity. You didn’t want somebody to have heard about the potential that Colby could die back in September. That, I feel like, would kind of take some of the tinge off of that possibility of what it was. So I think it was just kind of part and parcel of the course.
Colby’s Death Is Part Of A “Much Larger Thing” In The World Of Yellowstone
Filming The Scene Itself Also Proved Much More Troublesome Than Expected
So how did you actually feel then, having carried this character on for as many years as you said, to learn from Taylor that this was the fate?
Denim Richards: Yeah, again, it’s one of those things where you’re always kind of navigating this tightrope between the who and the do, right? You have the character, and then you have you, as the individual, and you’re kind of always walking and threading that needle, because it feels, often, that they intertwine, because you’ve been a part of it for so long. So, on the one hand, you have, obviously, the emotions of the ups and the downs, and the this and the thats, and then once you kind of deduce everything down and reduce it, you kind of realize you’re paid to serve a story. That’s ultimately our job as artists is to serve a story that is bigger than us.
We’re not standing on a stage doing a monologue, it’s not the Denim Richards monologue, and everybody’s just here to do that. It’s a part of a larger theme and a larger narrative. And you know, it sounds funny when you’re hearing it, but oftentimes, for artists, it feels, because we are so well taken care of, that oftentimes, if you don’t have a high level of introspection, it’s very easy to get kind of very myopic in your approach, and myopic in your thinking, that it’s like, “It’s all about me, and it’s about how I feel.” It’s like, “No, it’s a much larger thing.” So, I think that once you get past that, you just do what you have to do, and you deal with your emotions in a professional way, hopefully.
And again, like I said, I think this has really just been a stress test to how I feel like I want to handle my career, and if we’re going to have a long and fruitful career, like I’m hoping we will be able to have, chances are this won’t be the last time that something like this happens. Maybe those stakes will be even higher, and you’ll have to, hopefully, handle it with the same level of professionalism.
I hope you get the chance to get characters like this, but hopefully not as many die like this, because this was a pretty heartbreaking one to watch. I’d love to know what it was like actually filming that sequence, because that is one where I’m sure there was a stuntman involved, but it’s one where one wrong move, and then that’s a very real death.
Denim Richards: They definitely brought a stunt guy in, but I did pretty much all of it. Everything that was there that they showed, I did all of them, everything that was in the cut, it was all the stuff that I was doing. But it is exactly as you said, because we do get so tied to the character, you always are like, “No, if the character’s gonna die and feel something, let it be me.” And then you have this moment where you’re, like, “Right, but if your character gets hit in the head from this horse by accident, Denim Richards also gets hit in the head by this horse, and that’s no longer noble. So, let’s be a little bit smart.” [Laughs]
But it was definitely an interesting thing, because on the day that we’re shooting it, I, of course, had all my own emotions, of like, “This is the last time I’ll be in this trailer, last time I’ll be on the set.” And actually, on that day, it was very, very emotional for me, but it was, oddly enough, funny, because when I got there, we were in massive lightning delays. So it was a one-hour delay, a two-hour delay, three hours, then we went to a five-hour delay, and then they canceled. They’re like, “Hey, we’re just not going to shoot it today, and now we actually have a company moving in tomorrow, so we’re not going to shoot this for another two weeks.” So you’re sitting there, and you’re like, “Oh my gosh.”
I had to sit in this for another two weeks. But nonetheless, when the day actually happened, you get into it, and it becomes kind of just like another day. You shoot multiple takes at it, and it starts to feel very much like an athlete when they’re talking about a Super Bowl, or a game seven, or a championship game. There’s all the nerves, and the butterflies, but the moment that the ball’s in the air, it becomes another game with the outcome being a little bit different, but it kind of felt very much in the same way.
Richards Thinks Colby’s Reaction Would Be Very Different If Teeter Met Her End
“I’m very happy for her that she didn’t have to experience that side of it…”
So, we obviously saw a lot of the ranchers and cowboys’ reactions to it. But I’m curious, since Teeter and Colby were obviously the closest connection there, what do you think would go through Colby’s mind if the situation was flipped?
Denim Richards: Yeah, Colby and Teeter’s relationship for the last two, three seasons has been such this kind of cat-and-mouse game where I think only now, in the last couple of episodes, that Colby really kind of capitulates to the fact that he really does care about this wild woman. I think that it would be very somber. I think Colby is a little bit stoic at times, but I think that, in the moment, you can’t really control what would happen, because, at the end of all of it, Jen and Teeter is such a life force, right? She’s like a Red Bull to the heart. She just infuses so much electricity into things, and I think that you would definitely feel that. Whereas I feel like Colby is a little bit more of a heartbeat, just more of a kind of steady stream.
So when that happens, I feel like it just lands a little bit differently. I’m happy for her that she didn’t have to experience that side of it, and that I didn’t have to go through that and watching her reaction is definitely hard, because it’s a lot of work. Especially for us, as much as when those characters are gone or separated from each other, those actors are also gone and separated as humans. We’re also not together, right? As those things move on, you’re also separated from that, as well. So again, as part of that interweaving of that who and the do, we’re also kind of living these experiences as individuals, because we have gotten so close over the last couple of years.
Colby’s Death Has A Pretty Heavy Impact On The Cowboys Going Forward
“…that’s what allows the weight and the gravity for a show like this to happen.”
So, a lot of people have talked about the redacted scripts that went out for this half of the season. I’m curious if you yourself know, though, anything about how your death is going to impact the rest of the cowboys going into the rest of this season?
Denim Richards: Yeah, of course, I know the outcome of the show, but for us, it’s about wanting to let the audience be able to ride this wave. I think that they’ve been so tremendously patient with all of us and waiting for the shows. So, I think that, more than anything, anytime that somebody that has been a part of the bunkhouse for so long, of course, it’s going to have its unintended consequences, emotionally and things of that nature. I think that even for what we saw last night, watching the outpouring of love and admiration from the fans, sentiments, what that looks like.
I think this season has been a very nuanced season, and just so much of infusing a lot of the realities of what cowboy life can really be, and the challenges that come with that. With all these things being said, you’ve still gotta load cattle up, you’ve still gotta get on a horse, and that’s real. And I think that’s part of the nuance, and I think that that’s what allows the weight and the gravity for a show like this to happen. So, I would imagine a little bit more of that, and just kind of that weight, and hopefully they’ll be able to find some fun and beautiful moments. But definitely, I think that Colby’s character will definitely be felt.
Richards Will “Say ‘Yes’ First, And Then Ask What It Is Later” If Sheridan Invites Him To Another Show
He Also Has One Thing He Will Miss The Most About Working On Yellowstone
Now that your time on the show has come to an end, as most characters are, since this is the final season of the mainline show, what is one of the biggest things you’re going to miss about either your character or the Yellowstone universe as a whole?
Denim Richards: Really, it’s the people. The people from Paramount to 101, to Taylor. And, of course, our amazing cast that has been so loyal and so dedicated, because the show is, really, a physical show, right? It’s really an immersive show, we’re really on those horses, we’re really with cattle, we’re really in the sun, or the snow, or the rain. We’ve done all these kind of strange hours in different locations at different elevations, and we’ve all kind of gone through this bond together where we all went through the COVID situation together, and then we went through the strike thing together. We went through all these kind of waves, and to have this unwavering support from Taylor and 101, and Paramount, and everybody buying into the process, I think that’s ultimately what you miss.
Because it’s not like that on every show, and sometimes it feels very fragmented, and this is very much a team effort. Everybody has different storylines, but it doesn’t ever feel like anybody, individually, is more important than the other person. Everybody is just there to service the story, and I think that’s beautiful. So, I think that that’s what you miss. You’ll never be able to simulate that again, no matter what you decide that you do after this, we’ll always have that memory. As my dad always says, “Success is a pearl, and the goal is to string as many necklaces together as you possibly can.” And undoubtedly, Yellowstone is a massive pearl on the necklace. But there’ll definitely be other pearls.
Well, I really hope that those other pearls get to have you reunite with some of your castmates on this because, like you said, the people have all been so amazing on this show. And with that said, I love how frequently Taylor reunites with cast members. I mean, James Jordan has been on pretty much every one of his projects, including the Landman cast. Of his other shows, what would be the one that you would be the most excited to get to join if Taylor reached out to you for that?
Denim Richards: Well, I always say if Taylor ever reaches out to you to do anything, you just say “yes” first, and then ask what it is later. But he has a tremendous Rolodex of shows that he has going on. And I think that, more than anything, because of the role of being Colby on this show, I think that whatever it would be, I know that we would try to make it a little bit different, or not at all close to the ranching world, because then I think that maybe the audience wouldn’t be able to separate Denim and Colby from whoever this other character would be. So, I don’t know what that show would look like, but I’m always up for the challenge and the opportunity.
And, like I said, Taylor has just done so many tremendous things, and it’s always a blessing, because once you’re in his universe and in his radar, the hope is that you do good enough work to be able to get a call-up to do something else. Or, at the bare minimum, you’ve been put on a platform where there’s other showrunners and other executives that have seen what you’re able to do and say, “Hey, we’d like you to come and bat on this team.” So, at the end of the day, you just want to do good work, and be easy to work with, and hopefully, at the end of your time, there’d be somebody that’s memorable that people want to work with you again.
About Yellowstone Season 5 Part B
Yellowstone chronicles the Dutton family, led by John Dutton, who controls the largest contiguous cattle ranch in the United States. Amid shifting alliances, unsolved murders, open wounds, and hard-earned respect – the ranch is in constant conflict with those it borders – an expanding town, an Indian reservation, and America’s first national park.
Yellowstone is co-created by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Taylor Sheridan (Wind River, Hell or High Water and Sicario) and John Linson. Executive producers include John Linson, Art Linson, Taylor Sheridan, Kevin Costner, David C. Glasser, Bob Yari, Stephen Kay, Michael Friedman, Christina Voros and Keith Cox. The series is distributed by Paramount Global Content Distribution.