In a show full of questionable characters, Jefferson White’s Jimmy Hurdstrom stands above the rest. At the start of “Yellowstone,” Jimmy is a drug dealer who can barely ride a horse. The infamous Y brand changes him, who works his way up the Dutton Ranch totem pole and discovers the rodeo circuit. After a few devastating injuries, John sends Jimmy packing to the 6666 Ranch in Texas for some proper cowboy training.
As much as Jimmy is universally liked, his ex-girlfriend, Mia (Eden Brolin), is proportionately despised. A chatty barrel racer, Mia makes her “Yellowstone” debut in Season 3, Episode 3, where she and Jimmy meet cute at a rodeo competition. Jimmy gets bucked and sustains serious injuries, including a broken back, and the pair’s unconventional first date happens in his hospital room.
The deadly first date should have been a warning of things to come. Mia ends up being a toxic partner to Jimmy, pressuring him to get back in the saddle against his doctor’s wishes. She even delivers a menacing ultimatum: “Be that man and you can have me. But be this one and I’ll see you later.” Jimmy’s attempts to become a rodeo star land him back in the hospital.
When Mia declines to join Jimmy in Texas, he moves on and gets engaged to a 6666 vet tech named Emily (Kathryn Kelly). When the happy couple visits Montana in the Season 4 finale, a distraught Mia incites a bloody brawl with Emily. The vet holds her own, and that’s the last time fans see Mia on “Yellowstone.”
Jimmy moved on from Mia
During her run on “Yellowstone,” Eden Brolin appeared in 14 episodes during Seasons 3 and 4. In her final scene, Mia watches Jimmy drive away, teary eyed and tugging at her hair. Since the Season 4 finale, fans haven’t seen much of Jimmy either. In the Season 5 midseason finale, we get a brief look at Jimmy’s life at the 6666 Ranch. For the first time in his life, Jimmy has settled into the rhythms of domestic bliss, and he doesn’t seem remotely interested in returning to the violence and corruption of Montana.
With Jimmy planted firmly in Texas, Mia is doubtful to make a return on “Yellowstone.” Indeed, it is rumored that Jimmy will appear next in the “Yellowstone” spin-off “6666” — but even White isn’t sure what Taylor Sheridan has in store for him. “I wish I knew,” White said in an exclusive interview with Looper in January 2022. “I think you won’t be surprised to hear that they don’t tell me anything, and it’s mostly my job just to try to hold on to the bucking bronco at any given moment. Anytime I try to guess what [‘Yellowstone’ creator] Taylor Sheridan’s going to do, what he actually does is much better, and more surprising, and cooler, and more interesting than what I would’ve guessed.”
For her part, Brolin has stayed busy since her “Yellowstone” exit in 2022, appearing in the horror film “Candy Land” and in four episodes of the Patricia Arquette-starring series “High Desert.”
