‘Yellowstone’ Star Agrees That His Death-By-Snake-Bite Happened Too Quickly: “I Wouldn’t Die That Fast”

Most people who watch TV know that there’s often a necessary suspension of disbelief.

There were certainly a lot of crazy, borderline unbelievable scenes throughout Yellowstone. The hit series from the mind of Taylor Sheridan often stretched the limits of what’s possible, all while telling a realistic, modern western tale revolving around the Dutton family.

Those types of scenes and that type of storytelling has also extended into the many Yellowstone spinoffs, but fans will likely always remember the flagship show for the standout scenes that made the series the most popular on TV. One of those moments that fans of Yellowstone will probably never forget is the gruesome death that antagonist Roarke Carter suffered in the Season 4 premiere.

Josh Holloway, the actor behind the villain that made life increasingly difficult for the Dutton family, remembers his death scene quite well. For those that might need a refresher, Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) approached Roarke as he was fly-fishing, asking if he had left a cooler behind. The antagonist who had bothered the Duttons for a solid two seasons insisted that he hadn’t, but Rip just kept coming and eventually shook up the cooler to anger a rattlesnake that was inside.

In the shocking scene, Carter took a rattlesnake bite to the face, and quickly (maybe a little too quickly) succumbed to the venom that began coursing through his veins. Holloway remembers that he tried to convince Taylor Sheridan to go for a major blood vessel like the neck instead to make the expedited death more believable, but the show runner insisted that a bite to the face would be better.

Since the episode has aired, so called “rattlesnake experts” have pointed out that someone wouldn’t die as quick as Roarke Carter did following a venomous bite. The National Institute of Health even suggests that “rare” fatalities stemming from rattlesnake bites “usually occur some hours following the bite.”

Carter’s happened only seconds after, and when Holloway talked to USA Today about his character’s demise, he insisted that he too thought it all happened a little fast:

“I agree. We talked about that, Taylor and I. I said, at least do the jugular, so we could at least say it was a direct shot. We could say that. And he was like, ‘But it looks better here.’ And I was like, ‘But I wouldn’t die that fast!’ We had this argument. He said that it’s drama, and it looks better this way. Do it. And it did come out great.”

In Sheridan’s defense, it is one of the show’s most memorable (and bada**) death scenes.

And if you felt bad for Holloway being so violently removed from the show, you should find some comfort in knowing that the actor considers filming that death scenes one of the best jobs he’s ever had. That’s because the scene was shot during the back end of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Holloway was forced to quarantine for over a week in a Montana cabin right on the Bitterroot River… while he got paid.

Josh Holloway ironically passed the time before his scene doing the very thing that his character died doing: Fly-fishing. And as he recalls, he loved every single second of his character’s final shoot:

“There were elk running by all the time. And I’m a fly fisherman, so I fly-fished on the Bitterroot River for nine days straight. I would take one fish home every night and grill it. It was fantastic.

I had nine days, but all I had done was fish. When I arrived at the set, I practiced dying in my car for like a half hour. And I shot for four hours before driving home.”

Man… this acting thing doesn’t sound half bad.

I suppose the only bad part of acting – especially in a Taylor Sheridan show – is when you have to say goodbye to your character. Josh Holloway’s Roarke Carter had to feel the wrath of the Dutton’s secret weapon in Rip Wheeler, and it still stands as an iconic scene from the show’s five season run.

Check it out (if you dare):

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