'Yellowstone's' Wes Bentley on How Playing Jamie Changed Him: 'Disturbing'

The actor playing the calculating Jamie Dutton in one of TV's most popular shows says he can't help but be influenced by his character.

Wes Bentley, 46, has starred as one the leads on the Paramount+ hit series Yellowstone for the entirety of its five-season run. It's the longest he's ever spent with one character in his career since his breakout role on the Oscar-winning film American Beauty in 1999.

Bentley's role as Jamie is key to Yellowstone's final chapter, including the potentially fatal showdown with his sister, Beth, and his plot to get his father, John Dutton (Kevin Costner) impeached while governor of Montana. The second part of the show's fifth and final season kicked off on Sunday, with fans desperate to know how the show will end, but for Bentley it's a chance to shed Jamie, once and for all.

"I was getting into the the depth of Jamie and from Season 2, it was already starting to get pretty disturbing, and I had never really worked on one character for that long," Bentley told Newsweek. "Even at that point, I could see him bleeding into my life a little bit. His anxieties, his emptiness and his loneliness. It was all starting to infiltrate and I think the longevity of doing a job like that will get you, but also every interaction I ever have with him is cathartic and also pretty depressing."

Wes Bentley at the "Yellowstone" Season 5 Part 2 Premiere on November 7, 2024, in New York City. The actor said playing Jamie Dutton affected him deeply. Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images

Yellowstone follows the trials of the Dutton family, who run the largest cattle ranch in the U.S., as they battle to keep their land and business from being taken over by outside forces.

As a result of Jamie infiltrating his life, Bentley wanted to be careful not to take on too much of the character, but he also wanted to not miss opportunities to learn from him and develop personally.

"I was trying to keep Jamie out of my regular life, but it's hard after so many seasons and with a lot of characters that I have played, I have wanted to take some things from them and learned from them, much like friends in your life or people you've met who have had an influence on you," Bentley said.

But having said all of that, Bentley is still not sure Jamie has enough redeeming qualities that he would "really want to take with me after" the show concludes.

The premiere episode of the second part of Season 5 broke viewing records, with 16.4 million people tuning in to learn the fate of the Dutton family, per VideoAmp.