Yellowstone Star Wes Bentley Opens Up About the Struggle Playing Its Most Hated Character

While there are no shortage of characters with questionable likeability on Paramount Network's Yellowstone, there is one that fans of the series pretty much agree is its most hated. That character is Jamie Dutton, second-oldest son of John Dutton (Kevin Costner), albeit the adopted son. Jamie is a troubled character that fans love to hate for some of his poor choices as well as his seemingly endless sadness and now, Bentley is opening up about playing the character, admitting that it's difficult to leave the character at the door despite being in a good place in his own life.

"I've prided myself for most of my career on leaving it at the door, or like an athlete would say, leaving it on the field," Bentley told the New York Times. "But Jamie's sadness permeates my life, even though I'm not sad. I'm very lucky to have a great family and be where I'm at in life, but he's always there behind me, clawing at that, especially when I'm shooting."

Bentley also said that sometimes his wife even points out the character's presence — and that that they don't want him there.

"You're letting him come home now," she says. "Jamie's coming home, and we don't want him here."

But even with the character being so disliked by fans and permeating Bentley's own life, series creator Taylor Sheridan praised the actor's portrayal of Jamie Dutton, citing the actor as being why Jamie isn't a cut and dry case of being evil.

"Is Jamie evil? In a lesser actor's hands the answer would be easy, but Wes has crafted a vulnerable, honest, and emotional character who allows the audience to understand the motivation behind his actions — even if there is no questioning the act itself," Sheridan said.

Directors on the Paramount Network series had similar comments, noting that Bentley's portrayal make you both hate him and feel for him simultaneously.

"It's remarkable, his ability to make you mad at Jamie, make you hate him and have him break your heart at the same time," Stephen Kay said. "He's one of one if you ask me.

He added, "That role is so hard, so deceptively tricky. We've been comparing it since Season 1 to Fredo in The Godfather. John Cazale is arguably one of the best actors of all time, so if you're building a show with a Fredo, you better hand the part to somebody who can play."

When will Yellowstone return with new episodes?

Fans will have a little bit of a wait for the remaining episodes of Season 5 of Yellowstone. On Sunday, Paramount Network released a teaser for the upcoming back half of Season 5, revealing that the series will return sometime this summer. A specific date was not given. Piper Perabo gave an update in a recent interview revealing that the series seemingly hasn't even begun production on the second half of the season, though she did tease that there is a "lot coming".

"There's a lot coming. Things are on the move," Perabo told TV Insider. "I can't wait to get back to the back half just because I want to know what happens. I personally only know what happens up to the midseason finale up to that last second, and I don't know what happens when we come back.... I think you can tell that things are going really south because [the seventh] episode doesn't end at the fair; it ends with him practicing that speech. And Taylor's very good — if you're paying attention, he's telling you where the trouble's coming from. I think the fact that he ends with that scene is, for those paying attention, he's showing you."