Taylor Sheridan in ‘Yellowstone’ Strip Poker Scene with Bella Hadid

Taylor Sheridan has been super generous to Taylor Sheridan Yellowstone recently.

The co-creator and showrunner plays horseman and trainer Travis Wheatley in the series. The character has previously appeared briefly on his Paramount Network hit — typically galloping on a horse and engaging in a bit of transactional business with ranch hands. But not only does Travis have a surprisingly meaty role in the hit drama’s latest run, Sunday’s episode featured his character in perhaps the most flattering way possible within Yellowstone creative world.

The plot begins with Travis hosting a strip poker game with three attractive young women in various states of undress (Travis wins, of course). One of the women present is then revealed to be Travis’ girlfriend, played by supermodel Bella Hadid.

Enter the series’ fan-favorite tough-as-nails Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly), who accuses Travis of “violating workplace harassment laws” and says she’d “rather have a gasoline enema” than join his game.

But in the next scene, in a rodeo arena, Beth and Hadid’s character watch as Travis shows off his riding skills. Beth tells Hadid, “(Travis is) probably the most arrogant man I’ve ever met in my life. Misogynistic. Condescending. Twenty-five years older than you. Can you please explain the appeal?” To which Hadid dreamily replies, “Have you ever seen him ride before?” This is followed by shots of Sheridan/Travis maneuvering a horse (impressive!) Beth admits, “Okay, I get it.”

(For Hadid, this sentiment mirrors real life — she’s dating champion rider Adan Banuelos and recently spent plenty of time in the Fort Worth rodeo world).

In a subsequent scene, a buff and shirtless Travis parties at a pool with beautiful women and lures Beth into a one-on-one strip poker game. Unsurprisingly, Travis wins again – although he spares Beth the indignity of having to take her clothes off. (This follows a recent Sheridan shirtless appearance in another of his series – his Paramount+ CIA drama Lionesswhere he plays CIA agent Cody Spears).

Now in the previous week’s episode, Sheridan enjoyed a different kind of publicity moment in a scene set in an Amarillo hotel bar. Beth orders a Titos and soda and is told by the bartender that they are only serve Four Sixes vodka in this cowboy town. This is actually Sheridan’s liquor company, which is named after the sprawling and iconic 277,000-acre Texas ranch he bought in 2022. The bartender says, “Okay, Sixes and soda,” which sounds a bit like trying to get this order to stay a trend (admittedly, “Sixes and Soda” has a pretty nice ring to it). As with Sheridan/Travis’ horsemanship, Beth is dutifully impressed by the cocktail/embedded commercial for the writer-producer’s liquor company. (In case you’re curious, that speakeasy bar is the real Paramount Recreation Club at The Barfield, and according to their current cocktail menuthey serve Tito’s).

So when you put it all together, there’s a fascinating number of things there Yellowstone kind of demonstrates or suggests in these last two paragraphs about his own creator: Sheridan’s Four Sixes liquor brand is great. He is a knowledgeable horse seller (Sheridan sells horses in real life). He is an unparalleled poker player. His riding ability is incredible. He got a muscular 54-year-old physique. He may be “arrogant and misogynistic,” but women love him anyway. He can seduce a 28-year-old supermodel and earn the respect of Beth Dutton – as of five seasons Yellowstonetends to wipe out any man who has the misfortune to cross her path (aside from her husband Rip, played by Cole Hauser, and a few family members). Let’s call it Supporting Character Syndrome.

It’s all quite brave, for sure. It would be like if showrunner Shonda Rhimes had pitched in Grey’s Anatomy seam best surgeon in the world who then seduces Derek Shepherd while performing brain surgery right after Meredith Gray raves about an official Shonda Rhimes line of health products.

In one last interesting bit of Travis business from earlier in the season, Sheridan also gave Travis a moment last week when his character learned that John Dutton (Kevin Costner) had died. Given all the reports of behind-the-scenes strife between Sheridan and Costner, which ultimately led to Costner leaving the series and the showrunner writing him out of the series, Travis’ deadly “Oh really? What happened?” the reaction when he told of Dutton’s murder was surreal. After all, this was the author who “assassinated” John Dutton, and then casually surprised at the character assassination he committed.

“I don’t think I ever questioned the meta-ness of it, just because it felt very organic,” executive producer Christina Voros, who directed that episode and three others of Season 5B, told me. The Hollywood Reporter last week of the scene. “It was just a series of things that make sense. Jimmy (Jefferson White) now works for Travis, and that’s where his story is (at the Four Sixes ranch, where Travis learns of John Dutton’s death). And what really struck me about that scene was that this is the first scene where we really get to see the way that (John’s death) affects… the cumulative effect of grief and feeling helpless.”

Next Sunday is the series finale Yellowstonewhich is expected to end in such a way as to set up a spinoff series of some sort, as Reilly and Hauser have been in talks for a possible sixth season.

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Yellowstone releases its finale next Sunday at 8 p.m. on the Paramount Network, followed by a linear premiere on CBS at 10 p.m. Go here for how to stream Yellowstone and follow along THRs season 5B coverage.