Insane 'Yellowstone' Secrecy Measures Made Public, Failed In Hilarious Fashion

"Yellowstone" took a page out of the CIA's book to protect the ending, but it didn't work.

The epic neo-Western saga created by Taylor Sheridan ended this past Sunday night with a series finale that divided fans. Personally, I liked it a lot and so did most people I know. Many on social media did not. 

You can read my full breakdown and review here.

"Yellowstone" had code name for Jamie/Beth fight scene.

The biggest moment of the finale was when Beth and Rip killed Jamie. The scene was so secret that a code name was used so that people involved in the project wouldn't even know.

"Yellowstone" Christina Voros told The Hollywood Reporter the following about the measures taken:

"Weirdly, Jamie Dutton’s death became ‘Beth and Jamie play Scrabble.’ I think it had to [do] with putting pieces together, that might have been the origin of it. By that time in the season, some folks might have caught onto the 'arrival' code word [used in the scripts for previous death scenes for Kevin Costner, Dawn Olivieri and Denim Richards’ characters]. We wanted to add a layer of confusion around it because so many people had ‘arrived’ at that point. We didn’t want people to put it together, so that final fight sequence was, 'Beth and Jamie play Scrabble.'"

Having a code name is pretty cool. As a guy who loves espionage and military history, I'm all about code names.

However, the extreme measures taken by "Yellowstone" didn't work. In fact, the code name did nothing to save the brutal death scene from leaking.

In fact, all it took for the ending to be spoiled was one upset husband living in the area it was filmed. The internet hero posted a major chunk of the ending on Reddit, and then sent me videos…..of exactly what happened.

So, code words or no code words, it doesn't matter if the crew upsets a neighbor, who then proceeds to post the ending online.

What's done is done, and there's no going back now. What do you think of the ending and the controversy surrounding it? Let me know at David.Hookstead@outkick.com.

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David Hookstead is a reporter for OutKick covering a variety of topics with a focus on football and culture. He also hosts of the podcast American Joyride that is accessible on Outkick where he interviews American heroes and outlines their unique stories. Before joining OutKick, Hookstead worked for the Daily Caller for seven years covering similar topics. Hookstead is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin.