Harris plays veterinarian Everett McKinney in ‘Dutton Ranch,’ which follows Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler after the events of ‘Yellowstone’
Credit: Michael Tullberg/Getty; Emerson Miller/Paramount+
NEED TO KNOW
- Ed Harris said in a recent interview that he felt “a little misled” about the size of his role as veterinarian Everett McKinney in the Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch
- The actor shared his frustrations over cut scenes and said he felt “underused and inconsequential” during the first season
- Harris said he signed on for two seasons and was promised a larger role in the upcoming second season
Ed Harris isn’t entirely happy about his character’s role in the Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch.
The 75-year-old actor told Variety in a recent interview that he felt like he was “a little bit misled” about his role as veterinarian Everett McKinney, saying the showrunners initially led him to believe his character would have a larger role in the series.
“Midway through this first season, I was ready to go,” Harris admitted to the outlet at the July 20 premiere of Apple TV’s The Dink. “I said, ‘Get me the f— out of here,’ to tell you the truth. Because I didn’t feel like I was being used… I felt a little bit misled.”
“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,” he continued. “And that wasn’t really the case.”
Credit: Emerson Miller/Paramount+
He said that he brought up his concerns with the showrunners, but he didn’t get much of a response. “I said, ‘I’m feeling underused and inconsequential.’ And they kind of went ‘Oh,’ ” he recalled.
The Apollo 13 star said that he had signed up for two seasons with the show and was told that his character “will have a little bit more to do” in the second season, which he says begins filming next February.
“It just was just a little frustrating, to tell you the truth… When I watched this season, and it’s fine, and I thought it’s pretty good. I felt fine about what I did in it, and it seemed like I was relatively important to the story, but the doing of it did not feel that way,” he said.
Harris noted that he wanted to do more as an actor in the series, and some of the scenes in which he got to challenge himself — including one where he got to sing —were cut out from the final edit of the show.
“The thing that really pissed me off to tell you the truth… one of the things they told me before I signed on, they said, ‘Hey you get to sing.’ You’re in the bar, right? So there’s a scene in there… I’m talking to Kelly [Reilly] at the bar and Cole [Hauser] comes in and says ‘Okay, Everett, C’mon 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,” he shared.
“They cut it. They didn’t show it. They said it was too up for the dark ending of that episode, and that to me was reason enough to say, ‘I’m voiding my contract,’ ” he added.
Credit: Emerson Miller/Paramount+
PEOPLE has reached out to Paramount and series creator Taylor Sheridan for comment.
Dutton Ranch follows Yellowstone characters Beth Dutton (Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Hauser) as they “fight to build a future together” and “collide with brutal new realities and a ruthless rival ranch that will stop at nothing to protect its empire,” according to a logline of the series.
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The cast also includes Annette Bening, Jai Courtney, Marc Menchaca, Natalie Alyn Lind, Juan Pablo Raba and JR Villarreal.
Season 1 of Dutton Ranch is now streaming on Paramount+.
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