In recent years you’d be hard pressed to find a TV character that connected with people the way that Rip Wheeler has.
Cole Hauser, who plays Rip on Yellowstone, has become something of a household name ever since the modern day western series blew up back in 2018 thanks in part to a phenomenal sound track that had country music fans tuning in to hear their favorite artists, but clearly the biggest reason for the show’s success was simple: it’s just flat out good.
Despite all of the behind the scenes issues that have delayed the ending of the most popular show on TV, fans have remained loyal to the brand, continuing to watch reruns when available and supporting spinoffs like 1883 and 1923, which tell the back story of how the Dutton family came to be located in Montana. If you haven’t seen those yet, you can grab a 7 day free trial of Paramount+ and binge to your heart’s desire.
While getting through the filming delays, Yellowstone actors have been keeping themselves busy in a number of ways.
Luke Grimes, who plays Kayce Dutton, launched his career as a legit country music artist and he’s certainly found himself a solid fanbase. Kelly Reilly, who plays Beth Dutton, is set to star in Little Wing, a movie about a 13 year old girl dealing with her parent’s divorce by getting into pigeon racing.
But Cole Hauser may have stayed the busiest of them all.
Last year, he opened Free Rein Coffee Company, which is centered around the hardworking and early rising lifestyle of cowboys and first responders. Free Rein offers a great line up of roasts, from classic American Dirt to high caffeine Heavy Spur and everything in between. Each purchase helps support charities dear to Hauser’s heart, like the Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
He also partnered with a Montana based whiskey brand called Lazy K Bar Whiskey, which is available exclusively in the Treasure State.
But Cole was able to break away from his business ventures for a little while to have a conversation with Tim McGonigal, a member of the KRTV news team, and the two talked everything from his new companies to his previous movie roles, but there was a part that really caught my attention when the success of Yellowstone was brought up.
McGonigal asked Cole if he had any idea that the show would be the cultural phenomena it became, to which Hauser answered:
“No, nobody did. Anybody who says that’s full of ****.
The thing is that, I think what we did, you know, which is you know pretty amazing is we cultivated kind of a grassroots, you know, the interior of the country really fell in love with it and it built out. I think when you do that you end up having a core audience that will stick with you even when we take a year and half off or whatever, they still come back and watch it.”
He makes a good point. It’s easy to have some revisionist history and look back and say it was obvious the show connected or whatever, but the reality is there’s great things that never take off, it happens all the time. They struck gold with a combination of good work, good timing, and good luck.
I can’t wait to see how the show wraps up. Hearing Cole talk about it just gets me that much more fired up for it. That snippet happens around the 4:09 mark of the podcast, but I recommend listening the whole 19 minutes, it’s well worth your time.
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