Spoilers ahead for the Yellowstone season 5 episode "Three Fifty-Three."
Just two episodes after killing off Kevin Costner's patriarchal character John Dutton, Yellowstone shocked viewers on Sunday night with the brutal murder of the woman partially responsible.
In a major twist, with just three episodes left in the fifth and (possibly) final season, Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), the fixer girlfriend of Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) was shot execution style by the very hitman she hired to kill her boyfriend's father. Her death came after investigators learned that Dutton's death had not been a suicide, as they had staged it as, but a homicide. Before her killing, both Sarah and the hitman were seen watching the police press conference announcing that the late Governor’s death was officially being investigated as a homicide.
But Olivieri, who was already no newcomer to the Yellowstone universe, already has her next job lined up with series creator Taylor Sheridan.
"I always sort of know it’s coming," Olivieri told The Hollywood Reporter, as her character Claire Dutton was previously killed off in Yellowstone prequel 1883. "And to read it is like, 'OK, here we go.' We got what we all wanted. I think everyone is happy that the train station came."
Noting that she tends to "play that character that you love to hate," she explained that "dying as an actor is really an interesting journey, because I really try to go as deep as I possibly can and I make it as real as I possibly can." She continued: "And so to have died as many times as I have died in my career (laughs)—[the saying is to] “die before you die,” I’m just getting a chance to do it professionally!"
"Taylor is special, he has been for me, because a death for me just means a life somewhere else, and he immediately moved me to another show," Olivieri revealed. "So, it’s a fun thing to read and then be like, “Oh, I’m doing a different thing now."
When the surprised interviewer asked if she was doing yet another show with Sheridan, Olivieri said that he "moved" her to his Paramount Plus spy thriller series Lioness. Now in its second season, Olivieri will appear as a yet-to-be-revealed character in the Dec. 1 episode.
"They are all totally different," she teased of the new character, compared to Sarah Atwood and Claire Dutton.
"It’s one of the things he says to me. Taylor calls me his Swiss Army knife. He’ll text me and say, 'Yo, Swiss Army knife. I need ya,' she quipped. "And I say, 'Reporting for duty.' My last text to him was literally, 'You tell me what and where, and I’m there.' And that’s it, that’s my response. Another show, another day, another character."
