This story contains spoilers for the Season 1 finale Dutton Ranch“El Padrino.”
A key player was recently removed from the board Dutton Ranch Season 1 finale, and while all signs point to a clear suspect, even star Juan Pablo Raba wasn’t sure about his character’s crime — or whether he’d even have a job next season. We’re happy to tell him that unlike Rob-Will (Jai Courtney), his character Joaquin came out unscathed.
“To be honest, I thought I might not even survive,” says Raba, who has not yet seen the episode. “Like, one of the options could have been that they would have cut to the car with a bang. So that’s awesome that you’re telling me I make it out alive – that’s the first time I’ve heard that!”
yellowstoneThe sequel series introduced Joaquin, the adopted son of Beulah (Annette Bening), owner of 10 Petal Ranch. But things changed when Beulah’s biological son, the troubled Rob-Will, returned from rehab, threatening to kill his brother if Joaquin was named Beulah’s successor. Once passed out, Joaquin calls his father, Mariano (Raul Max Trujillo), a former farmhand of 10 Petals who, when Joaquin was younger, fled to Mexico after taking heat for Beulah for murdering Rob-Will’s father, who had raped her.
South of the border, Mariano became a drug kingpin, and when 10 Petal’s financial situation was in trouble, he and Joaquin offered Beulah a solution: smuggling fentanyl into cattle. As Mariano arrives at Rio Paloma to pressure Beulah into putting Joaquin in charge, Rip (Cole Hauser) and Beth (Kelly Reilly) uncover the illegal operation. Mariano sends his men after the ride-or-die pair, while also ordering Joaquin to kill his brother – despite Joaquin being known as a man who lacks “killer instincts”.
Mariano’s crew fails to capture Rip and Cole, but they successfully kidnap the duo’s own adopted son, Carter (Finn Little), who was about to run away with Rob-Will’s daughter, Oriana (Natalie Alyn Lind). And as she packs her things, Oriana spends a sweet moment with her father, which is interrupted by the doorbell. When Rob-Will goes to answer, the camera remains on Oriana, when a gunshot is heard. She runs and sees Rob-Will dead and a truck speeding away. The shooter is not shown pulling the trigger, but sheriff’s candidate Joaquin is next seen crying in his truck and looking at the gun.
We’ll have to wait to find out if Joaquin finally becomes the killer his father always wanted; Meanwhile, we talked to Raba about thinking he was dying at the beginning of Season 1 and playing straight into his fears.
As you got closer to the finale, knowing what was happening with Joaquin, were you worried you might be a goner?
Actually, this was while I was reading episode six. I got to the scene where Chet (Hart Denton) comes in with the gun, and I thought, Okay, this is it. It was fun while it lasted. I was getting ready to call my agent, and then I was like, I’ll just read the second pageAnd oh, I’m still alive! The type of show it is, you have no idea, and I never knew if I was going to make it or not. We were constantly calling each other, “Did you read this episode?” “Oh my God, what’s going to happen?” And then you see people dying and you call, like, “Hey buddy, how are you feeling?” This is useless! Every single episode feels like tossing a coin, not knowing what they’re going to do to you. As an actor, as much as we want to have certainty and know the whole cycle and how your character is going to develop, it’s also exciting.
