The popular Yellowstone spinoff, Dutton Ranch, has its new showrunner heading into Season 2.
It was a bit shocking to hear that the Rip Wheeler and Beth Dutton-focused show lost its original showrunner before Season 1 ever premiered. Back in April, and just three weeks before Dutton Ranch was set to air on Paramount, it was announced that executive producer and creator, Chad Feehan, would be leaving the show.
Now to be clear, it’s not out of the norm for a Taylor Sheridan series to have some turnover in the showrunner department. But the timing of this particular departure definitely raised some red flags. One source did tell Puck that Feehan had clashes with the stars and executive producers of the show – Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly. And that outlet also floated that Sheridan may or may not have been happy with how Season 1 of the series turned out (I don’t know if that concern was really necessary… but Sheridan is a perfectionist).
There are a lot of question marks around all of that, but all we really know is that when Dutton Ranch got picked up for a second season, the series was in need of a new showrunner with Chad Feehan no longer serving in that role. And Entertainment Weekly was able to confirm that the Yellowstone spinoff has found their new leader to take the show into Season 2.
The showrunner for the job is officially Benjamin Cavell, who is known for his work on Justified and Homeland, and also previously created SEAL Team and The Stand for Paramount+. It makes sense that the network and streaming service went with a familiar face for the job, and though his track record speaks for itself, he’ll have his work cut out for him taking the reigns of the show that many view as the direct continuation of the flagship series.
We won’t get to see what Cavell does with Dutton Ranch until Season 2 rolls around. There’s actually still one new episode – the season finale – for Season 1, which is set to hit Paramount+ this Friday (July 3rd), in addition to airing on the Paramount Network at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
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 the good news is that shows within the Taylor Sheridan Universe tend to have rather quick turnarounds from one season to the next.
I’m sure Benjamin Cavell will be anxiously awaiting his opportunity to put his stamp on the Yellowstone universe, and something tells me Dutton Ranch went with him because they know the showrunner will be… well, not Chad Feehan. If the former showrunner was standoffish, as the reports lead us to believe, and maybe didn’t take the show in the direction some wished, then Cavell was definitely selected to right those wrongs.
Though I might say… the first season of Dutton Ranch has been a-okay in the eyes of most Yellowstone fans. If bringing Cavell in manages to elevate the show even higher, that’ll be a win-win for everyone.
