In only his second major TV series role after his Emmy-nominated turn on HBO’s Westworld, Ed Harris stars alongside Annette Bening and opposite Yellowstone alums Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser in Dutton Ranch, Paramount+’s offshoot from Taylor Sheridan’s hugely popular neo-Western drama.
He didn’t have good experience filming Season 1 to a point where he was looking to leave the show, the Oscar-nominated actor said in an interview with Variety at the red carpet premiere for his upcoming Apple TV movie The Dink.
“Midway through this first season, I was ready to go, I said, ‘Get me the f*ck out of here,’ to tell you the truth. Because I didn’t feel like I was being used… I felt a little bit misled,” Harris said. “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. And that wasn’t really the case.”
Harris said that he brought up his concerns with the powers that be: “I said, ‘I’m feeling underused and inconsequential.’ And they kind of went ‘Oh’. ”
He may have felt like his complaints fell on deaf ear but they were heeded. According to sources, the recent change at the helm of Dutton Ranch, with creator Chad Feehan, who served as Season 1 showrunner, let go ahead of the series premiere, was largely related to how Harris’ character Everett McKinney was utilized — or rather underutilized.
Harris is said to have been involved in picking Feehan’s replacement, SWAT Team creator Benjamin Cavell, who was named showrunner last month.
Apollo 13 star’s concerns are being addressed, and Everett is believed to be front and center in the upcoming Season 2 of the series, from 101 Studios and Paramount TV Studios, which is now being written, with Harris kept in the loop.
According to sources, Harris already has been picked up for Season 2, which is slated to begin production Jan. 15. As he confirmed in the red carpet interview, Harris has a two-year deal for Dutton Ranch, which I hear includes an option for a third.
In the interview, Harris recalled a deleted scene from one of the first episodes that “really pissed me off.”
“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 at the bar and Cole 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…. F*ck you people.”
He clarified that he did film the song which ended up on the cutting room floor.
“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 said.
Harris made the differentiation between his experience filming Season 1 and the final product.
“When I watched this season, and it’s fine, and I thought it’s pretty good,” he said. “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.”
