Yellowstone's Timothy Reynolds Tribute Explained

"Yellowstone" often paid tribute to cast and crew members who passed away, and that was no different with lighting technician Timothy Reynolds. Season 5 included a tribute to Reynolds, who had been with the series since its very beginning and passed in 2022. His memory was honored with a title card at the end of episode 5, acknowledging the best boy electrician's contributions to the show across four seasons.

"Yellowstone" was known for its melodrama, and often, the ridiculous character deaths were actually sort of amusing. But nothing is amusing about losing real-life members of the cast and crew, which unfortunately occurred more than a few times on the hit Paramount series. The "Yellowstone" season 5, part 2 premiere included a tribute to bit and spur maker Billy Ray Klapper, for example, who had a cameo in the episode. That same installment, which featured John Dutton's (Kevin Costner) highly controversial death scene, also wrapped up with "Yellowstone" paying tribute to driver and longtime associate of the show, Melanie Olmstead.

Sadly, there were other examples of the series losing members of its cast. In fact, season 5 was a pretty bleak run of episodes, considering just how many tributes there were to erstwhile cast and crew members. The credits at the end of episode 5, season 5, "Watch 'Em Ride Away," for example, featured a title card that honored the memory of Timothy Reynolds, who'd been with the show since its very first episode and who had a long and wide-ranging career in Hollywood.

Timothy Reynolds was there when "Yellowstone" first started back in 2018. He's listed as an electrician and best boy electric on IMDb, where it shows that he worked on the series from season 1 all the way through to season 4, episode 2, "Phantom Pain," after which he seemingly took a step back from the show. A post on his Instagram shows that his full job title was "best boy set lighting tech," which means he was a senior member of the crew that lit "Yellowstone." Best boys are typically otherwise known as the assistant chief lighting technician, and help the head of the lighting department by acting as an on-set foreman.

"Phantom Pain," the last episode that Reynolds worked on, aired back in 2021. The former lighting tech passed away on August 24, 2022, at the age of 66, and therefore stepped away from "Yellowstone" ahead of his passing — though there's been no official confirmation of the reason for his death. A memorial was held for Reynolds in September of 2022.

Before "Yellowstone, Reynolds worked on several high-profile projects, including "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan's directorial debut, the neo-Western crime thriller "Wind River" in 2017. Like Melanie Olmstead, he also worked on Ari Aster's "Hereditary" and Disney's "John Carter" in 2012. But his career spanned decades, with the Utah-native getting his start as an electrician on the 1997 TV movie "Not in This Town" after switching careers from stockbroker to stagehand. He's survived by his sister Shirley, wife Sierra, three sons, a daughter, a stepson, and several grandsons.