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'Midway through the first season I was ready to go,' Ed Harris said of his experience on 'Dutton Ranch.'

Ed Harris wanted out after what he says was a disappointing first season on Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch. But despite his complaints, the four-time Oscar nominee will be back on set when season 2 starts production in January 2027. 

Sources told Deadline that Harris is set to return as veterinarian Everett McKinney in Dutton Ranch’s sophomore season. And he’ll reportedly take on a much more prominent role in the upcoming episodes. Harris is being “kept in the loop” as episodes are being written, according to the outlet. The actor was also involved in selecting new showrunner Benjamin Cavell, who is replacing creator Chad Feehan. Feehan left the series ahead of its May 2026 premiere on Paramount+. Apparently, his departure was related to the under-utilization of Harris’ character. 

Those changes should mollify Harris, who candidly told Variety that he was deeply unhappy while shooting season 1, which follows Yellowstone’s Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) as they move to Texas and face off with powerful ranching matriarch Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening). 

“Midway through the first season I was ready to go. I said, ‘Get me the f*ck out of here,” Harris said during a red carpet interview at the premiere of Apple TV’s The Dink. “Because I didn’t feel 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 added. “And that wasn’t really the case.”

Harris said he raised his concerns, but was mostly brushed off. 

“I said, ‘I’m feeling underused and inconsequential,’ and they kind of went, ‘Oh,’” Harris shared. “I’m being told my character will have a little bit more to do [in season 2]. I was just a little frustrated, to tell you the truth.”

The Apollo 13 star said that he did eventually watch Dutton Ranch and felt the show was “pretty good.” 

“I felt fine about what I did in it and it seemed like I was relatively important to the story,” he said. Still, he was annoyed that some of his scenes had ended up on the cutting room floor, including one where Everett sings in a bar. That “really pissed me off” and made him feel that he would be justified in “voiding my contract.”

Dutton Ranch is streaming on Paramount+. 

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