How Yellowstone Honored Cowboy Legend Billy Klapper

The following story contains spoilers for Yellowstone season 5, part 2.

THE DRAMA-FILLED DEBUT of the second part of Yellowstone‘s fifth season was filled with lots of shocks that the show may take a bit to catch up to—namely, the off-screen death of John Dutton confirmed in the show’s opening moments. But after getting that initial bomb out in the open, the episode backtracks a bit to show how we’re got there. Doing that allows, thankfully, for a few less charged, more focused character moments—and perhaps the episode’s strongest focused on Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser), and what happened when he met Billy Klapper—an actual, real-life cowboy legend.

With Rip moving a herd of cattle down south to escape a strain of sickness making its way through, he finds himself in Pampa, Texas, where Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) tells him that he’s got an order of spurs ready with a man named Billy Klapper. Rip, ever the great guy, lets Lloyd know that he’ll go pick them up. And that makes way for the great cameo.

It’s clear from the moment Rip shows at his door that Billy Klapper is the real deal; we see his workshop, along with everything he’s working on, and his slow, old school style stands out in our present day world where everyone and everything moves so quickly. Rip and Billy have a heartfelt moment where they talk about Billy’s work, and how it’s rare to see such craftsmanship. Rip remarks on the way he makes his spurs from one single piece of steel. “I think there might be a few, but very few,” Billy tells him.

Billy eventually not only gives Rip the pair of spurs that Lloyd ordered (15 years ago, as Billy clarifies!), but also lets Rip take his own pair as well—free of charge. It’s a nice moment that’s made richer from the fact that this is a real, respected figure of the modern West. Rip leaves and brings this new experience back to the 6666 ranch, where he quickly meets the hand named Dusty, and tells him about his meeting with Billy.

Rip, clearly affected by the encounter, strikes up a quick conversation, before Dusty tells him his thoughts on Billy: “When he’s gone, we’re all out of legends,” he says. “With nobody trying to be the next one.”

Given that the episode opened with the (off-screen) death of Yellowstone‘s own resident legend in John Dutton—and the way that the show has always lionized Rip, his behavior, and his way of life—we have no choice but to look at that moment and Dusty’s quote as a way of setting Rip up to be Yellowstone‘s next legend. Now, will we see that play out in the final episodes of season 5, continuing into season 6, in another spin-off show, or something else entirely? Well, that much remains to be seen. But it’s clear that Yellowstone is using its real-life cowboy cred to build up its own mythological Western figures.

Who is Billy Klapper and why did Yellowstone pay him tribute?

Season 5, episode 9 of Yellowstone concludes with a card that reads “In Loving Memory of Billy Klapper.” Klapper, who appeared as himself in a cameo earlier in the episode, died on September 10, 2024, after filming his scene but before the episode debuted.

As we mentioned above, Klapper is a real-deal, old school Cowboy. Klapper had been making cowboy gear—good both for function and style—full-time since 1968, and just like in the episode, worked exclusively out of his own workshop in Pampa, Texas. He would make as many as 200 spurs per year, and knew how to make them in more than 680 different patterns (and also was willing to make custom pairs upon request). Spurs are an added piece of metal that Cowboys wear on their boots while riding a horse, providing additional communication and control between themselves and the horse.

Taylor Sheridan has included tributes to real Cowboys and Western figures in the show in the past, but it’s interesting that Klapper’s cameo was used for even further thematic purpose; his meeting with Rip and the events of the episode overall seem to signify a passing of the torch, of sorts, and an indicator to the viewers as to who the hero of the show certainly is at this time.