One of the actors on Dutton Ranch wasn’t too happy with his role, and especially didn’t love that one of his favorite scenes got cut out.
The Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler-focused series has already aired the entirety of its first season, and while most fans see it as the closest thing to the continuation of Yellowstone, there were some viewers out there that could tell something was different. It makes sense that it felt that way, because Sheridan didn’t have a part in writing the inaugural season of the spinoff.
He’s set to return to the writer’s room for Season 2, and help give stars and executive producers of the show – Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser – a bit of direction.
And that might be the best thing for the show, because one of the actors included in the series recently went scorched Earth about his role in Season 1. Ed Harris, the 75-year-old actor who is known for his roles in Apollo 13 and The Truman Show, was one of the many high-profile celebrities that joined the Yellowstone spinoff.
Speaking with Variety at the red carpet premiere for Apple TV’s The Dink, Harris revealed that he’s signed up for two seasons of Dutton Ranch… but halfway through shooting the first season, he was ready to get out of there:
“Midway through the first season I was ready to say, ‘Get me the f*** out of here’ to tell you the truth. I didn’t feel like I was being used. I felt a little bit mislead. Prior to signing on for it, I was talked to quite a bit about what the season was, and what my character was going to do — and that I was one of the four main characters. And that wasn’t really the case.”
Wow… you rarely ever hear an actor or actress be that honest about their role.
Harris went on to say that he approached the higher ups at Dutton Ranch and expressed his concern about his character not being featured more prominently. From what he says, they were surprised to hear him say that, and apparently promised to get him more involved in the show’s sophomore season:
“I said, ‘I’m feeling underused and inconsequential,’ and they kind of went, ‘Oh.’ We don’t start (filming Season 2) until February. I’m being told my character will have a little bit more to do. I was just a little frustrated, to tell you the truth.”
Harris admitted later in the short interview that when he watched Season 1 back, he thought his character came through more than it felt like as he was actually shooting:
“When I watched Season 1, it’s fine. I thought it was pretty good. And I felt fine about what I did in it. It seemed like I was relatively important to the story. But the doing of it did not feel that way.”
And ending there would have been walking away on a bit of a high note, but that quote apparently stirred something else up in the longtime actor. Harris then added that there was one scene he shot for Season 1 that he was really proud of, and he was livid when he found out it was cut from the show:
“The thing that really pissed me off, the first episode or maybe it was the second, one of the things they told me before I signed on was, ‘Hey you get to sing in a bar.’ So there’s this scene in there, I’m talking to Kelly at the bar and Cole comes in. She goes, ‘Okay, Everett, come on it’s your turn.’ I walk up to the mic and they cut it. They cut the song out. I’m like, ‘F*** you people.'”
Tell us how you really feel, Ed.
Though Harris apparently shot the singing scene, he was later told it was “too up” for the dark ending of the episode. The actor couldn’t disagree more with the move, and cutting that scene legitimately made Harris consider voiding his two-season contract. It’ll be interesting to see where Ed Harris and Dutton Ranch go from here… Taylor Sheridan isn’t know to pamper his actors and actresses.
For now, Harris is still set to be included in Season 2. But if he continues to be unhappy in his role, it wouldn’t be surprising for him to exit earlier than intended.
