It's nice to be back in Montana with the Duttons and the rest of the gang on the Yellowstone ranch. While many of the Yellowstone season 5 cast are familiar faces, there is one new character who is making quite the impression so far this season — Sarah Atwood.
Many have arrived in Montana trying to take the Duttons down and claim the land on and around Yellowstone before, and thus far all without any luck. Sarah Atwood seems to be the latest opponent to the Duttons' way of life, but there are a few things that seem poised to make her an intriguing antagonist for the family.
Let's learn a little bit more about Sarah Atwood and who plays her.
Who is Sarah Atwood in Yellowstone season 5?
In the opening moments of the Yellowstone season 5 premiere, John Dutton (Kevin Costner) is elected governor of Montana and he looks miserable, not happy he is going to be spending the next four years in politics when all he wants to do is protect his ranch. However, he isn't the most upset person on election night. That title instead may go to Market Equities' Caroline Warner (Jacki Weaver).
After promising to destroy the Duttons at the end of season 4, the election of John Dutton sees her raging about her enemy becoming more powerful than ever and certain he is going to kill the state funding for their development project immediately.
But she's not done fighting just yet. Instead, she tells her colleague to bring in Sarah Atwood. This surprises him a bit, to which Caroline says that it's time to take the gloves off with the Duttons.
We don't officially meet Atwood until Yellowstone season 5 episode 2, but she quickly establishes herself as a confident operator who is not going to back down from the Duttons, or anyone for that matter.
Immediately as she gets off the plane she seems to recognize the potential in Montana, noticing multiple private planes arriving and departing. Asking if there is some event going on, someone tells her it's just a typical Tuesday.
When she arrives at Market Equities, she shows both her awareness and confidence when a staffer ogles her. She dresses him down for doing so but then says that she's not mad he looked, but that he didn't have the guts to make a move. When he tries, she shakes him off saying he missed his chance.
While watching the press conference with Caroline when John officially cancels their funding, Atwood immediately spots Jamie (Wes Bentley) as a potential weak link in the Dutton family and the person she is going to go after first.
Her first encounter with Jamie then occurs in episode 3. After Jamie quickly calls out the lawsuit Market Equities files after the lease was cancelled, Atwood admits that she is more impressed by Jamie than she initially thought. But she reminds him that businesses move quicker than government and poses the question of how Montana is going to make money after the loss of potential revenue from the project. She sets a dinner date with him to discuss things further.
Later, when Beth makes her move against Market Equities that puts Caroline's position at risk, Caroline says to let Atwood loose to go after the Duttons.
Yellowstone season 5 episode 4 sees Atwood and Jamie having that promised dinner, and poor, naive Jamie doesn't stand a chance. Atwood goes on a charm offensive to lower Jamie's guard, which is obvious to everyone except Jamie. They ultimately head into a bathroom to have sex.
Beth (Kelly Reilly), however, is on the case. Spying on Jamie, she sneaks into the bathroom after the two and manages to take a picture of Atwood's ID while they are distracted. Looking her up later, Beth can't find anything on Sarah Atwood, leading her to believe that it is not her real name. So now we have a new angle to this questions: who is Sarah Atwood really?
At the start of Yellowstone season 5 episode 6, Jamie is trying to do the math on why Sarah Atwood continues to see him, believing that she has some other motive. After a brief bit of deflecting, she says she wants to see Jamie become governor so they can work together to restart the airport project and take Montana forward not backward. However, she isn't willing to wait four years, she wants him governor as soon as possible, which of course means ousting John. Jamie acknowledges that he's tough to beat in a fair fight, to which Atwood responds you can't even allow him to get to the fight.
While John got the nice news piece, Sarah reveals the smoking gun against John in Yellowstone season 5 episode 7. Revealing to Jamie that John put the airport land into a conservation easement, Sarah explains how that could open the state up to a lawsuit and potential $4 billion in damages, which could be enough for impeachment, after which Market Equities would throw its full support behind Jamie to be the next governor.
That plan is put into action, which unsurprisingly brings Beth to confront Jamie. They argue, Jamie talks about the train station, which Beth previously did not know about, but also presumably Sarah heard (should probably tuck that away for later). Sarah also doesn't rebuff an accusation from Beth that she is playing Jamie like a marionette. Later, when Jamie says he wants to go on the offensive and possibly kill Beth, he asks if Sarah knows anyone that could do that, to which she says yes.
Is Sarah going to give Jamie the support he needs in this fight, or is she playing a long-game that will ultimately lead to his destruction as well?
Who plays Sarah Atwood in Yellowstone?
Sarah Atwood is portrayed by Dawn Olivieri. This is actually not the first time that Olivieri has found herself in the world of Yellowstone, as she appeared in the first two episodes of the prequel series 1883 as Claire Dutton. The characters were quite different, however, as Claire Dutton was a strict mother who did not make it long in the journey out west with the rest of the Dutton family. Atwood appears to be on the other end of the spectrum — a relentlessly independent woman who relishes in getting in a fight and pushing her enemy's buttons.
Some of Olivieri’s other notable roles include SEAL Team, Den of Thieves, Bright, House of Lies, Lucifer, The Last Witch Hunter and Heroes.
Yellowstone season 5 releases new episodes on Sundays on Paramount Network in the US and on Mondays on Paramount Plus in the UK.
