“Dutton Ranch”’s Juan Pablo Raba doesn’t think Joaquin killed [SPOILER] in the finale: ‘I wouldn’t be so sure’

Key Points

• Juan Pablo Raba tells Entertainment Weekly he doesn’t think his character Joaquin killed his brother, Rob-Will, in the Dutton Ranch season finale.

• Rob-Will’s death is not actually depicted onscreen, although Joaquin can be seen parked outside the house with a gun prior to the murder.

• The actor shares why he believes Joaquin wasn’t the one who pulled the trigger and his theories on who could be behind the shocking death.

This article contains spoilers for the Dutton Ranch season finale, “El Padrino.”

Hold your horses, cowboys! Juan Pablo Raba isn’t so sure that his character, Joaquin, was the one who fatally shot and killed Rob-Will (Jai Courtney) in the Dutton Ranch season 1 finale.

“I don’t think he did it,” the actor tells Entertainment Weekly. “Because he’s not a killer. He’s not even a cowboy, for Christ’s sake. He has never shot anyone in his life.”

Still, the signs certainly suggest Joaquin was the one who pulled the trigger — especially since his drug lord father, Mariano (Raoul Max Trujillo) ,had instructed him to kill Rob-Will earlier in the episode. He can also be seen parked outside the family home with a gun resting on his passenger seat just before the murder takes place.

However, Rob-Will’s death isn’t actually depicted on screen, with his daughter ,Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind), instead overhearing the gunshot and running downstairs to discover him already dead on the foyer floor. A vehicle can then be seen speeding away from the scene.

But Raba, who claims not to know who killed Rob-Will, believes that the murder isn’t that cut and dry. “Until we have a scene where we see him do it, I wouldn’t be so sure,” he adds.

He points to the general timeline of the crime as further proof of his character’s innocence.

“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,” he explains. “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.”

Which is a skill Raba believes Joaquin does not possess. “Number one, Joaquin is not a professional killer,” he says. “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.”

By not unveiling Rob-Will’s killer, Raba says Dutton Ranch has opened up “a world of opportunities” surrounding his death and its perpetrator. And he’s definitely got some theories.

“Did Mariano called Beulah and say, ‘Hey, take care of this or I will?’” he asks, referring to the Jackson family matriarch played by Annette Bening. “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.”

Raba also floats the idea that Joaquin may have “saw somebody else” kill Rob-Will, further complicating the narrative. After all, his final scene in the episode sees him looking down at the gun with teary eyes. “It was very difficult to shoot, by the way, because I was there in that car,” he says of Joaquin’s last look. “It was really difficult because not even my director, Christina [Alexandra Voros], who’s absolutely amazing, knew what was going to happen.”

They even filmed several options that showcased different levels of culpability. “We were like, ‘Okay, do one now where he did it. Do one where he saw somebody else do it. Do one where he feels proud, he feels scared, he’s heartbroken,’” he recalls. “As an actor, you work with information, but if you don’t get that full scope, then all you can do is just give as many possibilities as you can.”

And, just like Dutton Ranch viewers, Raba is equally curious about what this harrowing moment means for his character moving forward. “Now the real question is, what is he going to do? What’s going to happen now?” he asks. “Even if his dad takes over, how can he be a part of that 10 Petal family again? Everything is gone. So it just gives me so many questions.”

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He describes Joaquin as “completely out of his element and depth” at the end of the finale, which also ended on the explosive reveal that Mariano’s men have kidnapped Carter (Finn Little), the son of Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser).

“He’s scared. Joaquin is scared of Rip. Joaquin is scared of the gun. So, whatever he does from now on… maybe he has to move to Europe and do something completely different,” he says. “But if he wants to stay and be part of that element, he’s really gonna have to toughen up and grow in many, many ways. And to have that happen from where we’re starting right now, it’s a long way. To be able to stand up to someone like maybe Rip? Brother, you’re gonna have to do a lot of work.”

The season finale of Dutton Ranch is streaming now on Paramount+.

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly