Warning: SPOILERS For Dutton Ranch Season 1’s Finale – “El Padrino”
Dutton Ranch star Juan Pablo Raba says his character, Joaquin Reyes, didn’t kill Rob-Will Jackson (Jai Courtney) in season 1’s finale.
Dutton Ranch season 1 ended with action-packed violence as Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) defended their ranch from invading Mexican drug kingpin Mariano Reyes (Raoul Max Trujillo). However, at the 10-Petals Ranch, an unseen assailant shot Rob-Will when he answered the door. The main suspect is Joaquin, Rob-Will’s hated adopted brother.
Speaking to EW, however, Juan Pablo Raba professes Joaquin’s innocence in Rob-Will’s murder, citing circumstantial evidence. “Until we have a scene where we see him do it, I wouldn’t be so sure [Joaquin did it],” Raba says, despite his father, Mariano, ordering him to kill Rob-Will. Raba explains how the way Rob-Will’s murder plays out in Dutton Ranch season 1’s finale is inconclusive:
Juan Pablo Raba: “If you think about the episode, and you go through the timeline, Rob-Will says bye to Oreana, and then we stay on her, and then not even 30 seconds later, we hear a gunshot. So that means that whoever did it literally went ding dong, Rob-Will opened the door, and shot him. It takes a lot of cold blood to do that. You have to be a professional killer to do that.”
Joaquin grew up “soft,” according to Mariano and Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening), who raised Kino as her own son. Juan Pablo Raba insists that Joaquin doesn’t have the instinct to be a killer, despite Mariano being his father. Raba further pleads his case for Joaquin’s innocence:
Juan Pablo Raba: “Number one, Joaquin is not a professional killer. Number two, Mariano being Mariano, do we really think that he thinks his son is going to go through that? Or would he have a backup plan? Who knows.”
Juan Pablo Raba claims he doesn’t know who the killer is (and perhaps it wasn’t revealed in Dutton Ranch‘s season 1 finale script), but Raba praises Dutton Ranch for creating “a world of opportunities” surrounding Rob-Will’s death. Meanwhile, Juan has his own theories about Jackson’s murder:
Juan Pablo Raba: “Did Mariano call Beulah and say, ‘Hey, take care of this or I will? Did Beulah take care of this? We already saw Beulah take care of Rob Will’s dad. And she was just blackmailed by Rob-Will. Like, everyone is in the crossroads.”
The way Rob-Will’s murder plays out in Dutton Ranch‘s finale, the gunshot happens off-screen and is heard by Rob-Will’s daughter, Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind). She rushes down the stairs to see her father dead from a headshot as a black SUV speeds away.
However, a few scenes later, a distraught Joaquin parks his car, and there’s a gun in the seat next to him. If Kino didn’t fire the kill shot at Rob-Will, then it’s possible that he witnessed who pulled the trigger. This would explain his distress if Juan Pablo is right and Joaquin is innocent.
Beulah would seem to be ruled out as a suspect as she returned home and was visibly shocked to find Oreana kneeling over Rob-Will’s body. However, Juan Pablo Raba is right that in 1981, the young Beulah (Rebeca Robles) committed the same type of murder when she killed Rob-Will’s father, as seen in Dutton Ranch episode 7’s flashbacks.
If neither Joaquin nor Beulah killed Rob-Will, then there are other potential suspects. Perhaps Mariano ordered one of his henchmen, like Miguel (Berto Colon), to do the job, suspecting Joaquin couldn’t go through with it. Another suspect with a motive is Austin (Sterlin English), the 10-Petals’ whistleblowing ranch hand, who wants revenge for the deaths of his friends, one of whom Rob-Will killed.
Dutton Ranch season 1’s finale seems to position Joaquin as guilty until proven innocent, and perhaps Juan Pablo Raba is pointing fingers to distract from Kino as the likely killer. All will be revealed when Dutton Ranch returns for season 2.
- Release Date
-
May 15, 2026
- Network
-
Paramount Network, Paramount+
- Showrunner
-
Chad Feehan
- Directors
-
Christina Alexandra Voros
- Writers
-
Jacob Forman, Hilary Bettis, Chad Feehan, Hayley Tibbenham, J. Todd Scott, K.C. Scott