‘Dutton Ranch’ Star Juan Pablo Raba Thought He Was Getting Killed Off the ‘Yellowstone Spinoff’ (Exclusive)

Yellowstone‘s spinoff Dutton Ranch has everyone on their toes — with some cast members being certain that they were getting killed off.

“Look, I think that — except for Beth and Rip — [should be worried]. At least right now, nobody knows,” Juan Pablo Raba, who plays Joaquin, exclusively told Us Weekly.

Raba, 49, recalled the moment he was worried about his future on the show.

“When I got episode 6 and I opened the page and I see Chet walking to me with a gun, my first thought was, ‘Well, it was nice while it lasted,’” he quipped. “I was like ‘God, it was so short. But why didn’t they call me? That’s rude.’”

He continued: “You hope for the best and you hope it’s going to be a long run. But you really don’t know. I really hope we can really work this for many seasons because I think there’s so much story to tell.”

Raba isn’t the only one who was concerned about whether they would stick around on Dutton Ranch. During an exclusive interview with Us, Marc Menchaca weighed in on whether the deadly twists on the show had him worried about his character Zachariah’s fate, saying, “It’s always a possibility — and I have a pretty good track record of saying bye bye on a show.”

Yellowstone initially introduced viewers to the Dutton family in 2018. The Paramount Network show came to an end in 2024, expanding its universe with Luke Grimes‘ CBS show Marshals and Dutton Ranch, which premiered in May.

Dutton Ranch has introduced some new characters played by Annette Bening and Ed Harris. Other newcomers include Jai Courtney, Natalie Alyn Lind, J. R. Villarreal — and Raba’s Joaquin.

“I love this about Taylor Sheridan and the universes that he creates where it’s really hard to say that somebody’s good or bad. We have our heroes, of course but if you go back — in retrospective —some of the things they’ve done I would not consider to be very good,” he noted. “But they’re still our heroes and you understand them. I hope I can do same with Joaquin — no matter what direction he takes.”

Raba had high hopes for his journey, adding, “I hope that I get the chance to really expose what can happen to someone who has been stripped of everything — even hope.”

The actor pointed to the newest episode where Joaquin learned he was no longer next in line to run 10 Petal Ranch.

“Imagine if you work all your life toward one goal and you don’t have a family and you don’t care about romantic relationships. You have this one single goal in your head and they tell you no,” Raba told Us. “You ask yourself, ‘But why? I’ve done everything right.’ It has to be the most heartbreaking moment in his life.”

Raba continued: “What’s going to happen now is definitely going to spiral something in Joaquin that we hadn’t seen before — and he’s just in a place where for the first time he can’t fix it. He doesn’t know what to do so he’s just going to use anything — all the resources possible — to keep that to keep what he believes it’s rightfully his.”

Dutton Ranch airs Fridays on Paramount+.