Every story needs a protagonist and Outer Range’s happens to be Royal Abbott (played by Josh Brolin), the very definition of the American man. This ranch owner has a mysterious past and a habit of keeping his cards close to his chest. Throughout the series, his many secrets eventually come bubbling to the surface as he battles with his own faith and struggles to be a righteous family man.
Royal Abbott
Royal’s dark past is the very key to unlocking this man’s cryptic personality and made for one of the most shocking surprises in a series full of big twists. Royal explains to his son Perry in the climactic part of episode seven how he came to be this successful rancher and why he ran away from home all those years ago.
The true tale of Royal’s childhood is visualized through flashbacks. He went hunting with his father and accidentally shot the man when the deer he was tracking bolted. Young Royal attempted to drag his father back to their home but was too weak. Unable to face his family with the harsh truth he decided to run away for good instead.
Whilst fleeing this awful sin he came across the hallowed alien hole and yearning to disappear, stepped into the abyss. On exiting the hole at the other end, Royal time traveled from 1886 to 1968. In the late sixties the Abbott family took him in and the rest as they say is history.
This troubled past explains Royal’s connection with the hole, why he trusted the magical portal so quickly, and why he fought to keep it a secret for so long. Wayne Tillerson also knew the hole’s importance, having witnessed Royal exiting the hole in the sixties timeline.
Royal ventured into the hole for a second time when Autumn pushed him in. This time he traveled a few years into the future, where a military operation was in place, with a crowd of people awaiting his arrival. In this future his wife explains to him that he died a few years earlier, then Luke Tillerson shoots at him and he dives back into the time-traveling vortex.
Royal witnesses his own death when he crushes the black minerals into the palm of his hand. Future installments of Outer Range don’t look too hopeful for our ballsy ranch owner. As the story unfolds in the series’ present, Royal questions his own faith and tries to keep his cursed family together. He’s a good liar and an adept thief, who stops at nothing to protect the ones he loves.
This unabashed loyalty becomes a flaw at times and possibly leads to further ruin, but in those final moments of season one, you can see his genuine need for stability and with the revelation that Autumn is Amy, there may be hope after all.
