Juan Pablo Raba Disputes Joaquin’s Role in “Dutton Ranch” Death
on Jul 06, 2026 • Updated Jul 15, 2026
Juan Pablo Raba, who plays Joaquin on the hit Paramount+ show Dutton Ranch, is hopeful that there is a possibility that his character is innocent when it comes to the death of a critical character.
Dutton Ranch Season Finale Aired On Friday, July 3
The highly-anticipated Season One finale of Dutton Ranch became available on Paramount+ Friday morning (July 3) and aired later that evening on Paramount Network.
To catch up on all the action that took place in the season finale, including that shocking death, read our full recap here.
Throughout the season, Joaquin (Juan Pablo Raba) has been cleaning up messes created by his brother Rob-Will (Jai Courtney).
While they are not blood related, they were raised as brothers by their mom, Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening).
RELATED: Meet The Actress Who Plays Beulah On “Dutton Ranch” – Here’s Where You’ve Seen Her Before
Joaquin’s Deadly Order
In Episode 7, Beulah went against her promise to Joaquin to hand over the reigns to her 10 Petal Ranch when Rob-Will returned from rehab early and demanded the job, telling his mom he’d kill Joaquin (“Kino”) if she chose his brother.
This is when Joaquin decided to leave the ranch, but in Episode 8, Rob-Will’s mistakes began catching up to them, so he had to call in his father, the mysterious Mariano, from Mexico to help fix things.
Mariano came to Rio Paloma and eventually heard Rob-Will out, but after he left, he ordered his son to kill his brother.
After Rob-Will had a heart-to-heart with his daughter, Oreana, he hears a knock on the door and goes to answer it. Oreana continues packing her things (she and Carter are planning to leave town), and hears a gunshot.
She runs downstairs to find her father with a gunshot wound to the head. She looks out the open front door and sees a black SUV driving away.
Juan Pablo Raba Thinks There’s A Chance His Character Joaquin Is Innocent
As viewers, we saw Joaquin sitting in his black SUV in the driveway of the Jackson mansion with a gun in his front seat. Then, we heard a gunshot, and saw a black SUV drive away.
In the last few minutes of the episode, we also see Joaquin overcome with emotion in his car, while looking at the gun.
In a new interview with TVLine, Juan Pablo Raba reveals that his character might be innocent in the killing of Rob-Will.
“When I first read it, I was like, ‘Oh my God, how is this going to play out?’ But as I flip through the pages, I don’t see an actual scene where Joaquin kills [Rob-Will],” he said.
He continued his argument:
“You see Joaquin in a car with a gun, and a lot of doubt and heartbreak. He’s not getting pumped to do something that he’s never done before. All we see is Joaquin in his car giving some hard thought to something. And then we see him later, in the same car with the same gun … but did he do it?”
Raba also pointed out that there’s probably no chance that Mariano let him go there alone, saying, “If you’re Mariano, and you’re saying [demeaning things] about your son, and then you tell him to go kill his brother, wouldn’t you also send someone to make sure things have been done? I’m just saying!”
We love Raba’s optimism, but all signs are pointing to Joaquin. He even admitted to be willing to do anything to protect the 10 Petal.
We will have to wait and see what Season 2 brings us.
