A woman with a plan. Dawn Olivieri opened up about what she thinks her Yellowstone character, Sarah Atwood, is planning for paramour Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) — and it sounds like he better watch his back.
“If I could position whatever my desire is to be reachable and then knock the whole family out, that would be the ultimate chess move,” the 1883 alum, 42, exclusively told Us Weekly of her character’s motivations at PaleyFest earlier this month. “And if I could accomplish that, that’s what I would want.”
Though Jamie and Sarah are in a relationship, the Florida native doesn’t think Sarah “ultimately” wants a standard romance. “He’d either take me out or I’d have to take him out,” she quipped. “So, I might as well just get rid of him.”
The Den of Thieves actress went on to say that she has trouble deciding whether she’s on the side of Jamie or his sister, Beth (Kelly Reilly), whose conflict hit its lowest point in the midseason finale in January.
“I would say I’m Team Jamie, obviously, because I am on his side, I’m his partner in this, but there’s almost a part of me that also would say I am Team Beth,” Olivieri told Us. “If I could win my game, whatever that game is, I could get Beth to take Jamie out and then I could take Beth out. It seems like it’d be a very easy sort of play that I could make. So, it’s a chess move, but I don’t know what’s at stake yet.”
Olivieri added that for her, the perfect ending for her character would involve “sitting on the balcony of the Dutton Ranch, drinking Beth’s drink.” When asked if she’d want Sarah to have Jamie by her side, the Rosewood alum jokingly replied, “Who cares!”
When the first half of season 5 wrapped up in January, Sarah’s motivations remained murky, but it’s clear that she has it out for Beth. Beth, meanwhile, told her father, John Dutton (Kevin Costner), that she thinks they should kill Jamie. At the end of the midseason finale, Jamie then told Sarah that he wants to murder Beth.
While the strength of Sarah and Jamie’s bond is still up in the air, the connection between Olivieri and Bentley, 44, as scene partners couldn’t be better — which admittedly came as a “surprise” for the Secrets and Lies star.
“I was walking into that job thinking I was gonna work opposite of a very victim-y, smarmy, kind of weak energy [character]. And Wes himself is very dynamic, very smart, very sensitive and there’s something very powerful inside of him,” she told Us. “And I love taking [the] potential of that energy and fluffing it, heating it up, because I can grow that kind of thing. If it’s in there, I can make it bigger and I can do that with men.”
Olivieri explained that as an actress, she’s able to “build confidence in things,” something that was “called for” when stepping into the role of Sarah — both on screen and off.
“I talked to Taylor [Sheridan] about it. And I was like, ‘How did you know that that was part of it?’” she recalled. “Like, you wouldn’t know that that’s why I was cast, or that that was the role of Sarah and Dawn to do that to Jamie and Wes. But that’s what ended up happening. [Wes is] growing in power as a human and as an actor, as a character. It’s all happening simultaneously.”
The second half of season 5 doesn’t yet have a premiere date, but it’s clear that the war between Jamie and Beth is only just starting. The new episodes were set to air this summer, but Yellowstone star Wendy Moniz confirmed at PaleyFest that filming hasn’t yet begun.
“We know [co-creator Sheridan] is writing and we’re looking forward to getting back,” the House of Cards alum, 54, told Us. “I’m along for this ride for as long as it goes. That’s what I can tell you. It’s just been a dream job.”
Mo Brings Plenty, who plays the right-hand man of Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham), assured fans that they shouldn’t be worried about what’s coming. “Honestly, it’s Taylor Sheridan,” the Hell on Wheels veteran, 53, told Us. “Be prepared for something exciting and a wild ride.”
With reporting by Stephanie Webber
