“Yellowstone” fans have been waiting over a year for a new episode of the Paramount Network series. The announced November 2024 premiere window for “Yellowstone” Season 5 Part 2 has made it clear that the show’s long-awaited return is still months away, too. Rather than sitting back and simply waiting to find out how the series’ story ends, though, fans have kept busy coming up with theories about what twists “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan may still have up his sleeve.
The theories in question predictably range from outlandish to fairly plausible, but one, in particular, may reveal a shockingly tragic fate for Summer Higgins (Piper Perabo). As was noted by Redditor u/PowSuperMum, Perabo’s environmental activist is currently serving out the remainder of her prison sentence under house arrest on the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch.
Taking that into account, it’s possible that Summer may end up getting caught in the crossfire of Jamie Dutton’s (Wes Bentley) intended hit on his sister, Beth (Kelly Reilly), and his adoptive father, John (Kevin Costner). The “Yellowstone” fan even goes so far as to speculate that Summer may be mistaken for Beth by the professional assassins that Jamie asks his girlfriend and confidant, Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), about in the final installment of the first half of “Yellowstone” Season 5. “That’s a really good theory,” one fan replied. “That would be nuts,” another wrote.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether or not Summer will, as this theory suggests, actually die as a result of John and Beth’s ongoing war with Jamie. However, it does seem like only a matter of time before the Dutton family’s infighting begins to further affect those, like Summer, who surround the powerful Montana dynasty.
Yellowstone could end with a ‘crazy bloodbath’
“Yellowstone” fans have gone many months now without any official hints of what to expect from the show’s remaining episodes. In a January 2023 interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Summer Higgins herself, Piper Perabo, made it clear that she didn’t know what turns the series would take moving forward, either. “Taylor [Sheridan] is the most mysterious poet; he doesn’t tell me anything,” she said at the time. While Wes Bentley also seemed to be similarly in the dark when he spoke to TVLine in August, he did admit that he thinks his character’s rivalry with Beth and John will lead to a lot of violence. “The potential is there,” he acknowledged. The actor added that he believes there’s a chance the slow-burn nature of “Yellowstone” Season 5 Part 1 could be followed by a far more action-packed second half. “It was a different kind of intensity than we’ve had in previous seasons,” he noted. “Maybe that’s a build-up for some crazy bloodbath at the end.”
Unfortunately, fans still have a while to wait before they find out if Bentley’s loose prediction is correct or not. Either way, it’d make a fair amount of sense for Perabo’s Summer to meet a tragic fate at some point in the second half of “Yellowstone” Season 5. It would, after all, be in keeping with the show’s often grim tone for Summer to die just when her relationships with both Beth and John Dutton are truly starting to flourish.
Her dying as a direct result of Jamie’s actions would also, notably, just add yet another persona layer to his feud with John and Beth.