‘Dutton Ranch’ — the new ‘Yellowstone’ spinoff — premieres tonight: Here’s what to know as we follow Beth and Rip to South Texas

Well, Yellowstone fans, a new spinoff is almost here.

Dutton Ranch follows Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) as they relocate to Texas with their adopted son, Carter (Finn Little), and uncover a dead body while settling into their new ranch. Unfortunately for them, their morbid discovery puts them on a crash course with Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening), a fellow rancher determined to preserve her family’s 190-year-old property.

“It’s been a big shift. Montana was the biggest character of [Yellowstone],” Reilly told USA Today. “So now we have a new character in Texas. We’re sizing it up, and it’s sizing us up as well.”

Dutton Ranch is set in Rio Paloma, a fictional South Texas city. Building on characters originally created by Taylor Sheridan and John Linson, the series picks up a year after Yellowstone ends with Beth and Rip buying a ranch in Dillon, Mont.

“As Beth and Rip fight to build a future together — far from the ghosts of Yellowstone — they collide with brutal new realities and a ruthless rival ranch that will stop at nothing to protect its empire. In South Texas, blood runs deeper, forgiveness is fleeting, and the cost of survival might just be your soul,” reads the show’s official logline.

Reilly recently told People that while Beth and Rip “were the top dogs” in Montana, “they’re the strangers” in South Texas.

“It’s like going to the moon for these characters,” Hauser added. “They don’t know the land or the people or the environment.”

‘Dutton Ranch’ isn’t the first ‘Yellowstone’ spinoff series

Dutton Ranch is actually the second spinoff in the Yellowstone universe. The first spinoff, Marshals, premiered on CBS earlier this year and follows Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton, Beth’s younger brother, who leaves the ranch to lead U.S. Marshals in Montana.

“I’m so proud of Luke, and we love him so much, and I miss him,” Reilly recently told People, before teasing, “I wish we had a crossover. Maybe we will in the future.”

The two-episode premiere of Dutton Ranch drops tonight, with a new episode releasing every Friday at 3 a.m. ET on Paramount+ and airing on Paramount Network every Friday at 8 p.m. ET. The season will consist of nine episodes.

Ed Harris, Jai Courtney and others join ‘Dutton Ranch’ cast

Annette Bening isn’t the only newcomer! The Dutton Ranch cast also features:

• Ed Harris as Everett McKinney, a veteran turned veterinarian

• Jai Courtney as Rob-Will, an unpredictable ranch foreman

• Juan Pablo Roba as Joaquin, an employee at a big Texas ranch

• J.R. Villarreal as Azul, a wrangler who becomes Carter’s right-hand man

• Marc Menchaca as Zachariah, a recently released “jailbird”

• Natalie Alyn Lind as Oreana, a young woman who gets close to Carter

• Berto Colón as Miguel, a formidable cowboy

• Hart Denton as Chet, an employee at a rival ranch

“So, we have Annette Bening and Ed Harris join our show, which is like dream come true. Just these sort of legendary actors who I’ve always of admired,” Reilly said during an appearance on the BBC’s The One Show on May 5. “Beth and Rip were sort of king and queen of their world in Yellowstone, and then they lose everything and they have to start again.”

‘Dutton Ranch’ showrunner exits ahead of Season 1 premiere

If Dutton Ranch has more than one season, the network will have to hire a new showrunner. Season one showrunner Chad Feehan, who is also credited as the show’s creator, will not return for a second season should Dutton Ranch be renewed. Feehan exited the series just weeks before its scheduled premiere.

Reilly, Hauser, Sheridan and 101 Studios, the company producing Dutton Ranch, were reportedly dissatisfied with how Feehan handled the production upon completing the first season, according to a Puck story published in late April.

A new era for the Dutton clan

As for the overarching theme of Dutton Ranch? Hauser recently told TV Insider that it’s all about family — and the power couple coming together as a team.

“It’s about creating a family of their own for the first time and leaning on each other for support, love and friendship — all the things you hope you’d see in a small family trying to pick up the pieces and find a way to not only survive but get along in a new environment,” Hauser said.

Dutton Ranch also marks a new chapter for Beth Dutton.

“This is a different era — I had hit my quota of the younger Beth,” Reilly told the Sunday Times in January. “But there is a lot of why the audience fell in love with her. Beth was unrelenting, dangerous and could easily have been written as a man — people were very critical at the start.”

Did you know …

Dutton Ranch is set and filmed in Texas, unlike Yellowstone, which primarily took place in Montana. If you’re missing the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, you can still visit it. The real-life ranch used to film scenes in Yellowstone is actually the Chief Joseph Ranch, located in Darby, Mont., a few hours from Yellowstone National Park.

With its 2,500 acres, Chief Joseph Ranch is a working cattle ranch owned and operated by Shane and Angela Libel. The land, which served as the primary filming location for the Dutton family home in Yellowstone from 2017 until the show’s conclusion in 2024, was purchased by the Libels in 2012.

“I’ll tell you what’s extraordinarily humbling: sitting in my living room watching this show that is filmed in my house, and the show is watched by millions and millions of people worldwide,” Shane Libel told TV Insider. “I sit there and realize that, to millions of people, my house is quintessential Montana.”