Two years after its premiere, Amazon’s sci-fi neo-western, Outer Range, has left us with more questions than answers! Our roster of time travelers has more than doubled and the oddities of the Abbotts’ west pasture are far from explained. With all the overlapping timelines, it can be difficult to decipher what events take place when and which are directly connected. Thankfully, we’ve whipped up a timeline to make it a bit easier!
In the present day, and at the center of the series, we follow the Abbott family in their fight to protect their multi-generational ranch from the neighboring wealthy Tillerson clan. The rivalry reaches a head when the eldest Abbott son, Perry (Tom Pelphrey,) murders the eldest Tillerson son, Trevor (Matt Lauria,) during a bar fight. To save his family, Abbott patriarch Royal (Josh Brolin) helps Perry and his younger brother/accessory-to-murder Rhett (Lewis Pullman) dispose of Trevor’s body by throwing him into a mysterious black void on their west pasture. Did I forget to mention that Royal recently discovered a huge perfectly circular pit that swallows everything? My bad!
Of course, it’s not that simple. When they fought, Trevor was insulting Perry’s missing wife, Rebecca (Monette Moio,) who disappeared nine months ago. The FBI had recently called off its search for Rebecca, even though she left behind eight-year-old daughter Amy (Olive Abercrombie.) While Sheriff Joy Hawk (Tamara Podemski) initially empathizes with the Abbotts, she quickly pieces together their connection to Trevor’s ‘disappearance,’ and her suspicions are proven true when Trevor’s battered body appears in the woods a few days later.
This is, of course, because the black void doesn’t just swallow -- it transports. More specifically, it allows those who jump (or are pushed) into it to travel time, though they can never guarantee what year they’ll emerge. Royal, for example, jumped into the hole over a hundred years ago, crawling out in the 1960s to grow up alongside his future wife, Cecilia (Lili Taylor.) Since then, a handful of people have traveled time in the same area, altering each other’s pasts and future.
So, who goes where? And when?
Outer Range Timeline
1868 - Falling Star emerges from the hole, which has transported her back roughly 100 years. She quickly joins a nearby Eastern Shoshone tribe and becomes their translator/negotiator.
1872 - The rights to the Tillerson ranch are assigned.
1878 - Royal is born Royal Sumner to parents Levi and Alice Sumner. His birthday is May 26th. This same year, the rights to the Abbott ranch are assigned.
1882 - Joy Hawk appears from the future, joining the same Shoshone tribe as fellow time traveler, Falling Star. Their tribe has begun early treaties/trades with white settlers, including Levi Sumner and his family; which now includes baby girl Isabella. The Sumners live on the edge of Shoshone territory and pay the tribe with goods as rent. Joy has her first encounter with Young Royal, who is now four.
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1886 - Young Shoshone tribe members Mountain Lion and Flowers go out on a hunt, pursuing a bison (the same one seen in Season 1’s present-day) that they hit with two arrows. While following the animal, the two hunters enter settler territory, specifically Mr. Cape’s land. Cape viciously attacks both of them. Mountain Lion barely escapes while Flowers is captured and tortured.
The Shoshone warriors are out on a hunt, leaving Joy as Flower’s only hope for survival. Joy takes her gun (that she’s now kept hidden for four years) and fiercely saves the young girl from Cape and two of his ranch hands. Joy escapes with a bullet wound and, realizing she’ll slow Flower (who now must warn the rest of the tribe that the settlers are coming to attack) from getting back, sends the young girl alone.
Elsewhere, Cape enlists the help of Levi and Royal (now eight years old) to track down Flower and Joy. While Flower returns to the tribe, successfully warning them of the incoming invasion, Royal stumbles upon a wounded Joy in the woods. Before he can bring himself to shoot her, Levi joins him, encouraging Royal to kill Joy. A tearful Joy, making the connections between Young Royal and Future/’Present-day’ Royal (the one Joy personally knows,) convinces the boy to spare her life, resulting in him shooting Levi instead.
(In Season 1, Royal recalled a similar story from his childhood, revealing he killed his dad during a hunting accident. However, with Joy’s new presence, Royal’s past and memories were altered to accommodate her existence, making her and Flower the hunt’s game.)
Young Royal runs away in fear while a wounded Joy chases after him. The mysterious black void appears and swallows them both before closing.
1968 - Eight-year-old Royal crawls out of the hole. Wayne Tillerson, similarly aged, presumably witnesses this terrifying event, sparking his hatred for Royal. Royal stumbles upon the Abbott's barn, where he meets Cecilia. Before he can introduce himself, Royal experiences a seizure and is cared for by the Abbotts, who have been living on the land for a few generations. After, Royal’s memories of his life are muddled, and he simply tells the Abbotts he ran away from home.
1972 - Falling Star, a young nurse, enters the hole, which sends her back in time to live among the Shoshone tribe.
July/August, 1984 - Future/’Present-day’ Perry emerges from the hole in the Abbott’s west pasture. Posing as Ben Younger, a man looking for work, Perry befriends Royal and Cecilia, who are now in their mid-late 20s. It is revealed here that Cecilia is currently dating Wayne Tillerson, whose rivalry with Royal is already in full force.
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Perry reveals his true identity to Royal by saying they both emerged from the mysterious void. Royal sheds light on his past (and present, which is also the past!) and introduces Perry to the last Sumner descendant, the elderly Mrs. Thurbee. She is Royal’s grandniece but is unaware of their familial connection.
Royal, assuming Perry will be stuck here indefinitely, takes him to the DMV to get a driver's license as Ben Younger. The issue date is July 31st.
Later, while drinking at The Handsome Gambler, Perry spots Wayne cheating on Cecilia (aka Perry’s future mom) and confronts him. This leads to a physical altercation in which Perry breaks Wayne’s nose. Later, Perry reveals Wayne’s indiscretions to Cecilia when she demands he apologize for hurting Wayne. That night, Wayne and his cronies surround Perry outside the bar, beating him profusely.
(At this point, Wayne is briefly connected to his future (aka the show’s present) self, recognizing Perry and confirming his suspicions of the Abbotts' time-traveling abilities.)
Royal arrives just in the nick of time, shooting one of the Tillerson cronies and rescuing Perry. Back in the car, Royal informs Perry the hole is back. The two visit it, and while Perry hesitates about jumping in, Royal knows what needs to be done. Royal tells his future son to “go home” before pushing him in.
1990s-2012 ish - Royal and Cecilia eventually marry, having Perry and Rhett (who we know was born June 12th, 1996 from his police file) Wayne marries Patricia and they have Trevor, Luke, and Billy. When the kids are still young, Perry beats up Trevor at the roller rink, widening the gap between the two farming families. When the boys are in high school, Wayne and Patricia divorce.
Perry meets Rebecca in college and the two get married, eventually returning to the Abbott ranch and having Amy.
At some point, Rhett gets a DUI, which puts his DNA into the Amelia county database.
Present day (2020s) - Eight or so years later, Cecilia discovers Rebecca is cheating on Perry and threatens her, forcing Rebecca out of town. Cecilia hides the truth from her family, causing everyone in town to believe Rebecca is missing. In the same month, Wayne’s migrant workers discover the mysterious black rock, fueling the Tillersons’ desire for the Abbotts’ west pasture.
Nine months later, Season 1 begins. Royal (re)discovers the hole and the Abbotts learn the FBI is calling off their search for Rebecca. Autumn arrives on the ranch and the Tillersons file their claim for the Abbotts' west pasture on November 13th, 2020. Later that night, Perry and Rhett are at the Pit Bar. Perry goes out back to vomit, bumping into Trevor and his date for the night making out in the parking lot. An altercation begins but is quickly cut off by Rhett and Maria as they split the two men apart.
Maria leaves and Rhett goes to bring his truck around back and retrieve a drunken Perry. Trevor begins to insult Perry and Rebecca, starting a physical fight.
(With Season 2, this event is altered. Future/’Present-day’ Perry emerges from the hole (after being pushed in by past Royal in the 1980s) on this same day, tracking his past self down to stop him from killing Trevor. However, Future/’Present-day’ Perry distracts Past Perry, which allows Trevor to get the upper hand and kill him, reversing their outcome. Trevor, spooked by the dual image of Perry, drunkenly runs off. Future/’Present-day’ Perry takes Past Perry’s body out to the hole and swaps their clothing before pushing Past Perry into the void. Future/’Present-day’ Perry returns home, acting as his Past self.)
Perry accidentally kills Trevor moments before Rhett returns with his truck. The two put Trevor’s body in the back, driving home and telling Royal. Royal tasks the two of them with cleaning the truck and staying quiet while he takes care of the body. Unbeknownst to Perry and Rhett, Royal takes Trevor’s body to the hole, throwing him in. Autumn catches Royal and pushes him inside, momentarily sending him to the future. That same morning, Royal emerges from the hole with a surface gunshot wound from his travels.
The events of Season 1 continue as normal from this point. Trevor’s body appears in the woods and a murder investigation promptly begins. Perry is eventually arrested and Cecilia puts the house up to bail him out. Rhett and Maria grow closer and make plans to run away together. Royal meets with Dr. Bintu (whose business card he finds at the Tillerson home) and learns of her knowledge and desire to explore the west pasture. Royal sees an image on her wall, showing her working with an organization named BY9. When Royal briefly traveled to the future a few nights before, he saw the same BY9 organization, raising his suspicions. He warns Dr. Bintu to stay away and leaves.
We find out Wayne Tillerson had Dr. Bintu’s business card since he consulted her a few months ago about the strange rock his workers found. The Tillersons eventually learn of the hole, and a romance sparks between Autumn and Billy Tillerson, Wayne’s youngest son.
At the end of the season, Royal tells Perry the truth about his identity and shows him the hole, which Perry jumps into (sending him back to the 1980s,) hoping to find answers to Rebecca’s disappearance. The hole immediately closes up.
(Around the same time, following a path near Abbott/Tillerson land while continuing her investigations, Sheriff Joy unknowingly travels time, going back to the 1880s.)
Later, Rebecca turns up at the rodeo and locates Amy, who is there with Cecilia to watch Rhett’s bull ride. Rebecca lures Amy away and the two disappear. While Cecilia searches for Amy, Rhett and Maria leave town, and Royal tracks down Autumn and Billy, who both plan to kill him to secure the Abbott ranch for themselves.
After a gunfight, Billy and Autumn are near-fatally wounded. As Royal examines Autumn, partially passed out, he recognizes the scar on her forehead as the one Amy got a few days ago. Royal leaves Billy to die, taking Autumn’s battered body back home with him. Cecilia is there waiting, distraught. Royal promises to explain things to her and reassures her Amy isn’t gone -- she’s just upstairs.
Elsewhere, Luke is digging helplessly in the west pasture, searching for the hole after its disappearance. He momentarily creates one, letting a pack of bison from the past out in a vicious stampede. The bison wreck some of the town and cause Rhett and Maria to get into a minor car accident, stalling their efforts to leave Wabang.
Season 2 immediately picks up where we left off. Cecilia rushes upstairs, seeing Autumn instead of Amy. She storms out, telling Royal to clean up his mess. Royal begrudgingly takes Autumn to the hospital, while Cecilia goes to the sheriff’s office to see if they have any leads on Amy’s disappearance from a few hours ago. There, Cecilia learns that Joy is missing as well and the entire town is in disarray after the bison stampede. Billy is found and rushed to the hospital but is left in a near catatonic state from his injuries. When Autumn visits him in the hospital and later at the Tillerson house, she grows closer to Luke. Later, Autumn admits to Luke that she is actually Amy Abbott from the future, but this does not deter him. Autumn and Luke’s relationship turns romantic as they are bonded by visions of them together in the future, which they see after ingesting more of the strange black rock dust.
A few days later, the hole reappears and a wounded Joy emerges after four years of living in the 1880s. Royal happens to be at the hole, having preemptively felt its return. Royal swiftly drives Joy to the Indian Health Service (IHS) on the nearby Wind River reservation, where she is treated for her injuries. As Joy recovers, the two speak about their now-connected past, and Royal’s memories of the 1880s are altered to accommodate Joy’s presence.
The truth about Cecilia’s connection to Rebecca’s disappearance is revealed. Cecilia contacts Lewis Mays, Rebecca’s affair partner, who tells her and Royal that Rebecca has taken Amy to a women’s shelter. The two make plans to go retrieve their granddaughter. What they don’t know, however, is that Autumn and Luke are about to do the same. Autumn has no memories from before she was nine, and with Amy’s ninth birthday coming soon, Autumn knows it’s time for Amy to enter the hole and finally become Autumn.
Billy miraculously recovers and an altercation breaks out between him and Luke. They both want Autumn and fight over the future with her they’ve had visions about. Things turn physical and Luke gets the upper hand, swiftly bludgeoning Billy to death before running away.
Wayne finds Billy’s body and calls Luke, leaving him a scathing voicemail. Then, Wayne burns his house down with Billy still inside.
A bit later, Autumn and Luke head to the women’s shelter, posing as Rebecca’s family. Autumn is allowed inside and talks briefly with Rebecca, revealing she’s her daughter from the future. Autumn scares Rebecca and forces her to ingest the black dust, making her see visions of the future (where Autumn is leading a cultish group) and confusing her enough to relinquish control of Amy.
Back at the hole, we see a disheveled Wayne begging for answers. The void seemingly replies and Wayne, content with its answer, jumps in.
Cecilia and Royal arrive at the women’s shelter shortly after, where a tearful Rebecca admits that Autumn has Amy. Rushing back home, Cecilia and Royal call Autumn, who tells them of her plans to throw Amy into the hole to begin her journey. Royal calls Joy and tells her about Autumn, hoping she can interfere and save Amy. Joy meets Autumn, Luke, and Amy at the hole and a standoff begins. Joy knocks Luke out and shoots Autumn, but the latter manages to push Amy into the hole regardless, and it closes immediately after.
As Amy falls in screaming, Royal -- who is still in his truck with Cecilia as they race to join Joy and save their granddaughter -- suffers a stroke. He and Autumn both end up in the hospital, hanging on by a thread. While unconscious, Royal has visions of all the characters, past and present, telling him that “time is a river” and this is his “destiny.” Autumn dies for a few moments before miraculously coming back to life.
Back at the Abbott ranch, Rhett makes a deal with Dr. Bintu, who has been illegally harvesting samples from his family’s land. He agrees to talk with Royal about allowing her and other scientists onto the land, unknowing of her connection to the mysterious BY9 organization Royal saw in their future.
Ambiguous Future
While there are multiple dust-fueled premonitions throughout the show, we currently only have one instance of concrete time-traveling to the future. When Autumn pushes Royal into the hole after catching him disposing of Trevor’s body, Royal emerges sometime in the future. He’s still on Abbott land, but the mysterious BY9 organization and other militant figures have taken it over. Royal spots Autumn, Cecilia, Rhett, Joy, Luke, and Dr. Bintu. There are others too, all wearing yellow uniforms.
Cecilia approaches, telling Royal he died “two years ago” in her arms and then she urges him to run. As Royal makes his escape, Future Luke pulls out his gun, shooting Royal in the leg just as he re-enters the hole.
The premonitions are out of order but offer some key details. Royal eventually sees a vision of himself dying in Cecilia’s arms while she’s being comforted by Autumn. Autumn and the Tillerson brothers have multiple visions of Autumn pioneering a cult of yellow-wearing followers.
Unknown Time
After being pushed into the void by Autumn, Amy awakes in the middle of a desert and is found by two hikers who ask her name. She hesitates, seemingly unable to remember anything. Then, finally: “I think it might be Autumn?”
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