Is Jimmy Hurdstrom Leaving 'Yellowstone'? Did He Survive the Accident? We Have Answers, Partner

Paramount Network's modern western series Yellowstone — aka the whitest show on TV — is back for Season 4. The show follows patriarch John Dutton — played by Oscar winner Kevin Costner — and his family, who operate America's largest contiguous ranch. Their Montana cattle ranch acts as a battleground, however, as neighboring land developers, a Native American reservation, enemy ranching families, and Yellowstone National Park all frequently attempt to takeover.

Taylor Sheridan's series hosts plenty of other talented actors, like Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser, Wes Bentley, and Jefferson White. The latter actor plays Jimmy Hurdstrom, a drug dealer and thief turned ranch hand who's been with the show since its 2018 beginning. After John Dutton took deadbeat Jimmy under his wing, as requested by the boy's grandfather, he's blossomed into a fine young man.

The goofy, personable, hard-working character instantly became a fan favorite, so Season 3's major cliffhanger had fans chattering about his fate since August 2020. With a character arc so satisfying, fans have been keeping their hopes high and their cowboy hats on, waiting for answers regarding Jimmy's wellbeing in the highly anticipated Season 4. Is he alive? Is he leaving the ranch? Keep reading to find out, partner.

With a somewhat refreshing childlike nature, Jimmy Hurdstrom has dreams of becoming a professional bronc rider. "He’s brought onto the ranch and thrown into a world that is totally foreign to him," Jefferson White explained during a 2019 interview for Paramount Network. "This, for Jimmy, is like sort of a fun and exciting adventure." The problem with Jimmy's desire to explore the rugged, perilous cowboy lifestyle is his sweet ignorance. His dreams of rodeo notability eventually come to a halt.

While competing in a local rodeo in Season 3, Episode 3, Yellowstone Dutton Ranch employee Jimmy gets thrown off his horse, as his mind was focused on his surprise first encounter with the mesmerizing Mia (Eden Brolin). With feminine distractions muddying his focus, Jimmy is left unconscious and at the mercy of medics.

While Jimmy was able to recuperate from this particular accident, protagonist John Dutton — who has made his cherished values of honesty and keeping promises known throughout the series — makes the naive ranch hand promise not to take part in a rodeo event ever again. Well, by the very end of Season 3, Jimmy breaks his promise.

Attractive stranger Mia eventually becomes Jimmy's girlfriend, but her influence is partially what leads Jimmy to disobey his boss. After opening up to Mia about his fears of getting back on a horse, specifically related to rodeo riding, she tells him to "cowboy the f--k up." Her pep talk of sorts made Jimmy's fears of death or life in a wheelchair melt away. In Season 3, Episode 10, titled "The World is Purple," Jimmy is once again bucked off a horse, but this time, his spine is in trouble.

His fate (along with that of three other main characters) is made a cliffhanger during the bonkers Season 3 finale. In the Nov. 7, 2021, Season 4 two-episode premiere, nevertheless, Jimmy's mortality is revealed.

Superfans rejoice, because the newly Dutton-branded blue-eyed cowboy survives, many of his scenes featuring physical therapy appointments. When John ultimately finds out that Jimmy betrayed his trust, however, he sends the young wannabe cowboy packing for Texas alongside horse trader Travis Wheatly (Taylor Sheridan).

It was previously revealed that Jefferson White will be starring in the upcoming Yellowstone spinoff, 6666 — not to be confused with the upcoming Yellowstone prequel spinoff, Y:1883. The 6666 spinoff will be set at Texas' legendary Four Sixes Ranch.

The upcoming Paramount Plus spinoff's teaser description reads: "Founded when Comanches still ruled West Texas, no ranch in America is more steeped in the history of the West than the 6666. Still operating as it did two centuries before, and encompassing an entire county, the 6666 is where the rule of law and the laws of nature merge in a place where the most dangerous thing one does is the next thing."

Season 4 episodes of Yellowstone air Sundays at 8 p.m. EST on Paramount Network.