Despite all the success and acclaim that Yellowstone had throughout its run, its fifth and final season brings the series to a satisfying conclusion. Even so, there are still plenty of unanswered questions fans are desperate to have answered. It turns out that a few of these unanswered questions extend to one of its supporting characters: the loyal Yellowstone ranch hand, Lloyd.
Throughout the show, Lloyd displays many qualities that have turned him into a fan-favorite character. As the series progressed, his role in its story grew bigger and more integral. Especially as of recently, he’s been through some pretty tough times that have even threatened his life at several points. As of now, Lloyd’s future is uncertain, and with the show nearing its end, there are plenty of different ways that it could go about concluding its journey. But how exactly has that journey unfolded, and where has it left him as of the end of Season 5?
Updated by Jordan Iacobucci on August 5, 2025: Yellowstone has concluded after five seasons, bringing many characters’ storylines to an end. Ranch hand Lloyd Pierce survives the series finale, but his fate isn’t as conclusive as it might seem. What happens to Lloyd at the end of the series? This article is updated to include additional information and reflect CBR’s current publication standards.
What is Lloyd’s Story in Yellowstone?
The Family Ranch Hand Has a Small Story Presence
Introduced in Season 1, Lloyd is a middle-aged man who has served as one of the ranch hands on the Dutton Family’s titular Yellowstone Ranch for several years. Like most of the other ranch hands, he also bears the mark of the Yellowstone brand, indicating that he also harbors a criminal past and has traded a lifetime of service to the Dutton family and their property for protection from the law. Throughout the show’s first two seasons, his role was relatively small.
Lloyd’s participation in the overall story and his given lines of dialogue were extremely limited. However, the brief interactions that did occur between him and the Dutton family showed his loyalty and commitment to them. There was also the wholesomeness of the friendship between him and Rip, as well as the father-son-like dynamic between him and fellow ranch hand Jimmy, which the fans also grew to love watching.
Season 4 of Yellowstone Gave Lloyd More Time To Shine
Tensions and Rivalries Boil
In Season 4 of Yellowstone, viewers got to see more development and complexity from Lloyd’s character, as he was even given his own little story arc that lasted several episodes. The already bitter rivalry between Lloyd and Walker, one of the other ranch hands at Yellowstone, reached a new level of animosity after Laramie abandoned the romance she had with Lloyd in favor of a more serious relationship with Walker. The tension between the two finally came to a boiling point when Lloyd smashed Walker’s guitar and even threw a knife in his chest (barely missing the heart) after being challenged to a fight.
On the surface, Lloyd’s pettiness seemed to be rooted in Laramie choosing Walker over him. There’s certainly an aspect of Lloyd being insecure about his age, but implicitly, there was a reasonable layer to the situation. Lloyd has been a cowboy at the ranch longer than anyone else. He’s sacrificed any type of life, killed for the ranch, and covered up heinous crimes to keep the Yellowstone-Dutton Ranch out of the law’s way. That’s the philosophy of the branded cowboys: they live and die on the ranch and would do anything to protect it. When they break the rules, there are harsh consequences. Depending on the situation, they’re sometimes punished with death.
That’s what was supposed to happen to Walker when he refused to kill for the ranch, but Kayce set him free instead. Laramie is only a small factor in the big issue that Lloyd has with Walker. Lloyd believes Walker gets special treatment, despite hardly showing his loyalty to the ranch and breaking the rules several times. Lloyd has a superiority complex as someone older and has been at the ranch longer than anyone, but he’s not exactly wrong. Lloyd doesn’t want to be a rule breaker, but he also doesn’t want some new cowboy cutting corners. But the fallout led to Lloyd ignoring a big rule himself.
The Ramifications of Lloyd and Walker’s Feud on Yellowstone
They Resolve Their Differences, But Not Without Violence
As a result of the two hands having broken the rule of “no fighting in the bunkhouse,” John and Rip forced them to settle their situation by making them fight to exhaustion over several hours—undoubtedly one of Yellowstone‘s wildest sequences. However, even though Lloyd emerged as the fight’s victor, Rip still felt that Lloyd needed to be taught a lesson for all of his behavior. His method of doing so was by jumping him and practically beating him to a pulp.
Despite the severe emotional and physical beatings that Lloyd endured, it had little to no effect on his friendship with Rip, and both he and Walker mutually agreed to finally settle their differences. At the end of the day, the likely reason why Lloyd was judged so harshly compared to Walker is because he was supposed to be a role model for everyone. If Lloyd ignores the cowboys’ ideology, then everyone else will eventually. After some reflection, Lloyd respected Rip for putting him in his place and clearing his head.Yellowstone: Why Did Jamie Dutton Kill His Dad?
What Happens to Lloyd at the End of Yellowstone?
Lloyd is Safe (For Now)
At the end of Yellowstone’s fifth and final season, John Dutton’s death throws the entire Dutton ranch into disarray. After this untimely demise, the remaining Duttons must sell the Yellowstone Ranch back to Thomas Rainwater and the Broken Rock Reservation, facing an impossible sum in inheritance taxes. They reluctantly do this despite knowing that this will protect the land from developers who otherwise would have gotten their hands on it. This ending is bittersweet, as it forces the Duttons and their employees to leave the land for good.
Most ranch hands, including Lloyd, scatter after their operation shuts down, traveling to different areas of the country as they start new lives independently. While some of these former Yellowstone employees continue their lives as cowboys, Lloyd is a different story altogether. Having served the Duttons and the Yellowstone for so long, Lloyd can’t bring himself to work as a cowboy anywhere else.
Despite an offer to come work at Beth and Rip’s new ranch, Lloyd decides to retire from cowboy life altogether. Yellowstone is surprisingly vague in depicting Lloyd’s fate, revealing only that he plans to find work in a different field, presumably remaining in Montana. This ending doesn’t rule out appearances from Lloyd in any of Yellowstone’s upcoming spinoff series. Nevertheless, for now, Lloyd has left one life behind to start another, marking a worthy end for one of the Duttons’ most loyal cowboys.
Will Lloyd Appear in an Upcoming Yellowstone Spinoff?
The Door Is Open for Future Lloyd Appearances
Yellowstone ends with an ambiguous fate for Lloyd, allowing him to ride off into the sunset for adventures unknown. However, the door is left wide open for the fan-favorite ranch hand to return in any of the upcoming Yellowstone spinoffs currently in production. Taylor Sheridan isn’t giving up on his hit neo-Western franchise simply because the flagship series has come to an end. Multiple continuations are in development, including some that could easily feature the return of Lloyd Pierce. The most obvious choice would be Beth and Rip’s upcoming spinoff, tentatively titled Dutton Ranch. The upcoming series will follow the two beloved characters as they continue the Dutton family legacy by starting a ranch of their own on a new, smaller tract of land in Montana. Given his close relationship with Rip, it would make sense for Lloyd to appear on the series at some point, though likely not as a regular. Lloyd turned down Rip’s offer to work on his new ranch at the end of Yellowstone, suggesting that any appearances the character would make on Dutton Ranch would only be as a guest.
Conversely, Lloyd may fit better in the upcoming Kayce Dutton spinoff, Y: Marshalls. The upcoming show is expected to take a different approach than any of its sister series, following a procedural format that depicts Kayce’s continuing adventures as the livestock commissioner. Since Kayce and his family will remain in the same local area as the events of Yellowstone, Lloyd may pop up from time to time as he looks for a new purpose in life. However, if Sheridan and his team really want to push the boundaries of where they can take Lloyd as a character, he could show up in the upcoming 6666 series, which will take place on the Four Sixes Ranch in Fort Worth, Texas. This series will take the Yellowstone franchise to new corners of the country, depicting the robust dealings of the Texas cowboys who work the iconic ranch. Lloyd would fit in well among these people and could even become one of the series’ regulars on the spinoff.
Hopefully, fans haven’t seen the last of Lloyd after the events of the Yellowstone finale. There are endless avenues to be explored with the fan-favorite character on any one of the upcoming Yellowstone spinoff series.