Key Points
Behind-the-scenes changes were made to Dutton Ranch after Ed Harris voiced complaints about his character.
Earlier this week, the actor revealed that he attempted to exit the show midway through the first season because he was feeling “underused.”
Reports have emerged that after Harris brought his complaints to producers, series creator Chad Feehan was let go as showrunner.
There are big changes coming to the Dutton Ranch — and Ed Harris is glad to hear it.
On the heels of the veteran actor revealing that he felt “misled” about his role on the Yellowstone spinoff and “underused” in its debut season, reports have emerged that the actor’s complaints fueled big changes ahead of the show’s second season.
Sources told Deadline that creator Chad Feehan, who served as season 1 showrunner, was let go ahead of the series premiere largely due to Harris’ feelings about his character, veterinarian Everett McKinney, being underutilized.
The outlet reports that Harris was involved in picking Feehan’s replacement, SEAL Team creator Benjamin Cavell, who was named showrunner last month. Additionally, Everett will be a prominent part of the show’s second season. (The actor has a two-year deal for Dutton Ranch, with an option to extend.)
Representatives for Paramount and Harris did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly‘s request for comment.
Ed Harris as Everett McKinney on ‘Dutton Ranch.’Credit: Emerson Miller/Paramount+
Earlier this week, the 75-year-old actor shocked fans by admitting that before production on the first season of Dutton Ranch wrapped, he was already looking for a way out.
“Midway through this first season, I was ready, because I said, ‘Get me the f— out of here,’ to tell you the truth,” Harris told Variety in a red carpet interview. “Because I didn’t feel I was being used. I felt very misled.”
Harris, a two-time Golden Globe winner who has been nominated twice for an Academy Award and three times for an Emmy, plays a kindhearted veterinarian who has become a stabilizing father figure to Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) following their move to Texas. Despite his role as a key ally for the leads, Harris said he was disappointed by how little Everett factored into the main story.
“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,” Harris recalled. “And that wasn’t really the case.”
Annette Bening as Beulah Jackson and Ed Harris as Everett McKinney on season 1, episode 6, of ‘Dutton Ranch’Credit: Emerson Miller/Paramount+
Harris said he took his complaints about feeling “unused and inconsequential” to producers and has since been told that his character will have more to do going forward.
“When I watched the season, it’s fine, it’s pretty good. It seemed like I was relatively important to the story, but the doing of it didn’t feel that way,” Harris noted, adding that he was especially annoyed about an early scene of him singing in a bar getting cut out of the show.
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“They said it was too ‘up’ for the dark ending of the episode,” he recalled. “I’m like, ‘F— you, people!’ That, to me, is reason enough to say, ‘I’m voiding my contract.’”
Harris stars on the Yellowstone spinoff alongside Reilly, Hauser, and Annette Bening. Dutton Ranch is expected to return for its second season in late 2027.
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