Dutton Ranch is nearing the end of its first season, and Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser are excited to see where their Yellowstone spinoff show will go.
Before the series premiered earlier this year, it was described as “Yellowstone Season 6.” That description ended up being right on the money, especially considering how fans poured in to watch the return of the beloved Yellowstone characters. After the two-episode series premiere, Paramount+ shared that the Beth and Rip-focused spinoff drew in a staggering 12.9 million viewers in its first week, which was enough to hand Dutton Ranch the title of “Biggest Series Launch” in the history of Paramount+.
That also eventually helped the Yellowstone spinoff reach a Season 2 renewal.
Though that’s all exciting, and proves that the fanbase from the flagship series is still hungry for more, it was very important for Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser that they didn’t bring back the characters to just go through the motions. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the two actors and executive producers on the show discussed how they felt like they had “big boots to fill” with Dutton Ranch.
Kelly Reilly also touched on how much pressure they felt to continue Taylor Sheridan’s story with his characters without him involved as much as he was on Yellowstone:
“It was a serious decision, honestly. It wasn’t one that either of us took lightly because we were so proud of that show and the world. They’re big shoes to fill — big boots to fill. Taylor’s words were everything for Beth — every line that gets quoted back to me is his.
These characters are conjured from his imagination, and to take them on without his words? It’s a challenge. But we know them. We have them in our DNA a now, and in order to continue that, we had to take them into a different aspect of themselves.”
Safe to say that Reilly, Hauser and the rest of the crew working on Dutton Ranch has done a great job carrying on what Sheridan started.
But they’ve both been surprised with how much work it is to star in and executive produce a show. Hauser was asked about the future of Dutton Ranch, and though he’d love for the show to continue as long as possible, he hasn’t had much time to think about anything other than what’s in front of him:
“This has been a beast. We haven’t had any time to even think about it either. We literally filmed to the end of March and we’ve been on the road selling the show.”
As for rumors that the show is planning on a five-season arc (which would match the length of Yellowstone, believe it or not), the actress behind Beth Dutton says they haven’t heard much on that front. That being said, they’ve got plenty of ideas of where the series could go, but they just prefer to keep things at a “one season at a time” pace:
“We haven’t heard five. I think we’re taking it one season at a time… I think we have some ideas about season two, with where we left season one. We can’t talk about the ending, but we’re super excited about where it goes and so we already know sort of where the beginning is and that’s exciting.”
And ultimately, the show will go as long as the fans will take it.
Kelly Reilly said she doesn’t want to force it, but if the storytelling and writing continues to match the level that it’s been through five season of Yellowstone and now one season of Dutton Ranch, she’d love to continue to play the powerful, badass character that fans love:
“If the writing is good. You never want to hold on too tightly in this profession, right? So honestly, we’re very grateful to be here and if we get a chance to keep making something we’re proud of, then we’re here. If not, we’re both working actors and we’ll be fine.”
Hauser agrees, and says it would be a dream come true to discover more about Rip Wheeler and dive deeper into his storyline, as well as all of the others that are currently being explored in Dutton Ranch:
“It would be pretty cool, though. I always feel like if the audience continues to speak the way that they have about the show for the last 10 years or so, then I would love to continue to entertain them.”
Considering the monster ratings the show has pulled in, I’d imagine that fans would love to see Rip and Beth’s story stretch across multiple seasons.
There’s still one new episode – the season finale – for Season 1, and it’ll hit Paramount+ this Friday (July 3rd), in addition to airing on the Paramount Network at 8 p.m. ET/PT. And if the news of the first season coming to a close makes you sad, there’s no need to panic.
Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser will return for Season 2 (as will the rest of the cast… as long as they make it out of Season 1 alive), and shows within the Taylor Sheridan Universe tend to have rather quick turnarounds from one season to the next.
