Annette Bening Reveals Whether She Told Kevin Costner She Was Cast in “Yellowstone” Spinoff “Dutton Ranch” (Exclusive)

Julia MooreFri, May 15, 2026 at 2:25 PM UTC

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Annette Bening attends the NYC premiere of "Dutton Ranch" on May 12, 2026; Annette Bening and Kevin Costner in "Open Range"
Credit: Todd Williamson/January Images/Shutterstock; Moviestore/Shutterstock -

Annette Bening joins the Yellowstone universe in Dutton Ranch, the new spinoff centered on Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser)

Bening, who worked with Yellowstone star Kevin Costner in the 2003 Western Open Range, tells PEOPLE whether she's been in touch with Costner about Dutton Ranch

She says she was a fan of Reilly in particular in Yellowstone and discusses the juicy onscreen dynamic their characters have

Annette Bening is stepping into the Yellowstone world for the first time with Dutton Ranch.

In the new Paramount+ spinoff centered around Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser), Bening plays rival ranch owner Beulah Jackson.

Bening, 67, tells PEOPLE she was a big fan of Yellowstone before joining, however, she has yet to let her former costar Kevin Costner know about the role. Costner, 71, played Dutton patriarch, John Dutton, in Yellowstone before his 2024 exit.

"I haven't let him know," Bening says of Costner, her costar in the 2003 Western movie Open Range. "But we have stayed in touch over the years, and our paths have crossed many times."

"We made a Western in Southern Alberta in 2003," Bening says of Open Range, which also starred Robert Duvall and Michael Gambon. "I'm very proud of that movie."

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Annette Bening and Kevin Costner in "Open Range"
Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock

"My father just died a few years ago," Bening shares. "Some of my movies, my father would not watch, but that one, he watched it over and over."

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"I love that film. I'm very proud of it," she continues. "And I got to work with Kevin and Robert DuVall, and it was a joy. My kids were with me. They were little. It was all amazing."

Bening says Reilly was part of what drew her to Dutton Ranch, as she was such a fan of her Yellowstone performance. In Dutton Ranch, Beth and Rip relocate to Rio Paloma, Texas, where they "collide with brutal new realities and a ruthless rival ranch that will stop at nothing to protect its empire," per the synopsis.

Bening's character, Beulah, is in charge of that rival ranch, and she teases her complicated dynamic with Beth, who is "incredibly gutsy and intriguing" to Beulah.

"There's a kind of mutual attraction and a mutual intrigue, let's say, between these two women," she says of the onscreen dynamic between her and Reilly, 48, "But that's the fun of it. It's just really a joy to have that dynamic going on."

Annette Bening as Beulah Jackson in "Dutton Ranch"

Ed Harris also stars in the spinoff, which levels things up even further. "You're really only as good as who you're acting with," Bening says.

"Especially with great actors like Ed Harris, Kelly Riley, Cole Hauser, then, really, it's about listening, and looking at what they're doing and picking up on that energy. That's the fun of it — the exchange and the uncertainty of what might happen," she adds. "Is there a surprise in store for what might happen in the scene as we're playing? All of that is the fun of it."

The first two episodes of Dutton Ranch are now streaming on Paramount+. New episodes drop Fridays.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”