‘Dutton Ranch’: Cole Hauser Admits to ‘Challenges’ With Taylor Sheridan’s Absence

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Taylor Sheridan wrote every episode of Yellowstone by himself, in addition to the prequel spinoffs 1883 and 1923. He’s an executive producer on Dutton Ranch, but he’s no longer a writer for the Yellowstone TV universe, which also includes Marshals on CBS. Cole Hauser admits that Sheridan’s absence on Dutton Ranch was challenging during the creation of the Beth and Rip spinoff’s first season.

Hauser and Kelly Reilly are executive producers on Dutton Ranch, in addition to reprising their fan-favorite roles of Beth and Rip. Finn Little, who plays Beth and Rip’s son, Carter, and director/executive producer Christina Alexandra Voros are the only Yellowstone alums who crossed over to Dutton Ranch who were on set daily, so it was an almost entirely new experience. Hauser said it was adjustment for them.

“There were challenges, you know?” Hauser told Film Inside NYC. “Not having Taylor there, for us to really kind of be able to work with these new writers, these new directors, these people… Everything had changed.”

The head of the creative process on Dutton Ranch Season 1 was showrunner Chad Feehan, who created the series and was a writer and executive producer. Feehan has been replaced by Benjamin Cavell, the creator of SEAL Team, for Season 2. (Hauser previously told The Hollywood Reporter, “Showrunners change all the time. This business is about adapting. We’ve been doing this for a long time. Things change. People move on.”) Hauser told Film Inside NYC that they didn’t think about trying to live up to Yellowstone.

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“I enjoy a challenge, it certainly was a challenge,” he said. “We worked our asses off this year… And I don’t think a lot of the outside noise or the thought of, like, ‘What’s the weight of the show?’ was really apparent to me at the time.”

“It was about putting my head down and working my ass off with… what I had around me,” he continued. “The writers that we had, the new writers that we had, that we had to figure out on our feet how to really perform and tell a story. So, I’m proud of what we accomplished, and I look forward to doing it again.”

Ed Harris recently revealed that he felt “misled” about his role in Dutton Ranch. He noted his displeasure about his lack of screen time and threatened to quit. Hauser and Reilly said in TV Insider’s finale interview that Season 2 is going to have a lot more Harris in it, and that the new season is an opportunity to identify missed opportunities from the first run.

Dutton Ranch, Season 1 Available Now, Paramount+

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