Natalie Alyn Lind, who plays Oreana Jackson in Yellowstone spin-off Dutton Ranch, has clarified fans’ uncertainty about her character’s age, revealing Oreana is meant to be 24.
Some fans had believed that Lind, who is 26, was meant to be playing high school age as Oreana, something Lind has called “the funniest thing”.
Speaking with PEOPLE, Lind clarified the situation, explaining that her character, the daughter of Rob-Will (Jai Courtney) and granddaughter of Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening), is purposefully older than her love interest, the 19-year-old Carter (Finn Little).
“Everybody keeps on making these references to the fact that they think my character is supposed to be a high school student,” she said. “A huge part of our storyline is that my character is supposed to be years older than Finn’s. My character is supposed to be 24, and his character’s supposed to be 19.
“I always find it really funny when [fans are] like, ‘She’s supposed to be playing high school.’ I’m like, no, not really, but you’ll see more about that later. I feel like – hopefully, fingers crossed – season 2 will be able to dive more into her background and her story to show who she is as a person.”
Lind added that the age gap between the characters “plays into the fact that Oreana’s childhood was robbed from her, because of her family and the environment that she grew up in… And there’s a youthfulness that Carter brings out in Oreana.
“She is so scared to accept love, and you see Carter maturing into himself and becoming a man, and I think that you’re able to see Oreana go back to that kind of whimsical childhood that she never got – and they bring that out in each other.”
Dutton Ranch continues to release new episodes weekly, with the most recent instalment revealing who is taking over Rip’s (Cole Hauser) duties, now that he is the head of the 10-Petal ranch operation.
Alongside, Hauser, Little, Lind, Bening and Courtney, the central cast for the series also includes Kelly Reilly, reprising her Yellowstone role as Beth Dutton, as well as Ed Harris, Juan Pablo Raba, JR Villarreal and Marc Menchaca.
Dutton Ranch airs on Paramount+ on Fridays.
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