Following up on a cultural phenomenon like “Yellowstone” is no easy task. Any spin-off has to balance honoring what made the original series a hit while finding its own fresh ground. With “Dutton Ranch,” especially after the letdown of “Marshals,” that challenge falls on Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler, who leave Montana behind for Texas in hopes of building something new, only to discover that new beginnings come with familiar dangers. Maybe they’re magnets for this kind of thing.
“Dutton Ranch,” the new “Yellowstone” spin-off that follows Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler as they gamble everything on a new life in Texas. Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser return as the fan-favorite couple, with Finn Little back as Carter. This time, the Dutton orbit expands to include Annette Bening as Beulah Jackson, a formidable Texas rancher whose power, control, and family legacy put her directly in Beth’s path. The series also stars Ed Harris, Jai Courtney, J.R. Villarreal, Marc Menchaca, Juan Pablo Raba, Natalie Alyn Lind, and more.
On this episode of Bingeworthy, host Mike DeAngelo speaks with Reilly, Bening, and Hauser about carrying the “Yellowstone” legacy into a new chapter. The conversations cover Beth and Rip’s move from Montana to Texas, Beulah’s dangerous grip on power, the show’s darker Episode 4 turn, and how the creative team approached evolving characters that fans already know inside and out.
For Reilly, one of the immediate thrills of “Dutton Ranch” was watching Beth finally collide with someone who could meet her on equal footing. Beulah is not another disposable obstacle. She is a mirror, a rival, and possibly something more complicated.
“I mean, for me, Beth’s intelligence and fearlessness are such a wonderful combination, and it’s not very often you’ve seen her come up against a worthy adversary,” Reilly said. “So she meets her match in Beulah, and so therefore what she meets is respect, because you’re not going to meet a woman like that and not kind of be attracted to the qualities that she has and admire her.”
That dynamic starts with two women circling each other with hostility, but Reilly said the relationship becomes more interesting once mutual need enters the picture.
“They would circle one another at the beginning. She holds the power, I’m a fish out of water, this is her town,” Reilly explained. “So there were a lot of fun things to play with, but when we started to sort of lock in and maybe potentially need one another, that’s where we start to really get into the juicy stuff.”
Bening’s Beulah arrives like a cattle queen who never waits for permission to take the room. But the actor said the character’s power is also a trap. Beulah wants control, but everything she is trying to protect keeps slipping out of her hands.
“I think that she is into power and control, and of course, people who are into power and control ultimately are frustrated because you can’t control everything,” Bening said. “This is also a woman who is, like Beth, trying to please her father. Beulah’s father is dead, but the legacy of the ranch and the weight that Beulah feels on her shoulders of continuing this ranch, continuing the legacy of the ranch, what it meant, it’s very deep.”
That burden pushes Beulah into increasingly dangerous territory. For Bening, the appeal was not simply playing strength, but playing the panic under it.
“She gets herself into trouble trying to protect this thing, trying to hold on to something that is slipping through her fingers, including trying to make her children okay, her sons, they’re not okay, and she can’t make them okay, but she’s trying desperately, her granddaughter, and everything is sort of slipping away for her,” Bening said. “That, for me, was fascinating to try to play, and fun. It was a hell of a lot of fun to be in Texas, to shoot there, to know that I got to work with Kelly and Cole Hauser and Ed Harris, who’s a friend.”
Reilly admitted that returning to Beth was not automatic. After nearly a decade with the character, and after “Yellowstone” reached what she considered a proper ending, she had to take the decision seriously.
“There was a healthy hesitation,” Reilly said. “I took that decision very seriously. I care tremendously about the work we’ve done, and I care tremendously about this character.”
Reilly described Beth as a once-in-a-career role and said the character arrived at a defining moment in her own life.
“I’ve played her for almost 10 years, 2017. I took this character into my heart and soul,” Reilly said. “She was a lifeboat for me. I just threw everything at it, and I was written for beautifully.”
That could have been the end. But Reilly said Beth and Rip’s departure from Montana opened a door that felt dramatically honest rather than forced.
“I could have just left it there. You know, that was a job done, and Yellowstone for me really did end,” Reilly explained. “But to start again in a new place, a new location, after the death of her father, the ending lent itself to a new door opening. It’s not every day you get a character like Beth, and it’s not every day that I get to go to work with Annette Bening, so everything about this was scary to start with, and I’m so glad we did it.”
Hauser also saw the move to Texas as a necessary disruption. When asked what changed for Rip in a new state, he said the answer was both practical and emotional.
“It was interesting in the beginning, like going to the moon. It was both Cole and Rip,” Hauser said. “Getting out there doing cowboy camp for two weeks in the heat of Texas in the summertime was certainly a change, and just being able to survive that kind of thing to start with. And then getting back into the skin of the character and the different style of ranching and cowboying in Texas.”
The change also gives Rip something rare: uncertainty. He may know the land, animals, and work, but Texas does not operate by Montana’s rules.
“The actors on the show, JR and Mark Manchaca, both speak Spanish on the show, which was really cool,” Hauser said. “And Rip doesn’t really know what the hell they’re talking about a lot of the time. So it was great to change it up and start new and with new challenges. And I think that’s what makes the show special is that it’s not that we hit a ceiling in Montana, but I feel like, you know, we need to change, and we got that.”
When it came to returning, Hauser said the hesitation was less about whether he wanted to play Rip again and more about what the next version of the story would actually be.
“The only hesitation is what does it look like?” Hauser said. “What’s this next iteration? What are the challenges? Where are we? Who are they? What are we? Are we starting from the end of Yellowstone and bleeding into this new world with Beth and Rip?”
To find that answer, Hauser said he and Reilly worked closely with the writers before production began.
“Ultimately, we sat with the writers, Kelly and I, and went through all these different kinds of ideas and thoughts and desires and came up with what we’ve come up with,” Hauser explained.
Hauser pointed to environmental and cultural differences to keep Rip from becoming too settled.
“You’re in Montana, and there is tons of water, and you can push cows through it. And, you know, in Texas there’s not,” Hauser said. “They cowboys are different. It’s just all these new challenges that I think, you know, Rip wasn’t totally prepared for, which keeps it interesting, and it keeps the colors, the character that Chad and I really wanted. So, I think he is excited. ultimately, it’s not about ranching anymore. It becomes about survival.”
Reilly also pushed back against the idea that Beth’s story had run its course. For her, the new show gives Beth a chance to age, evolve, and carry old wounds into unfamiliar terrain.
“There was something about the ending, the finality of Yellowstone that that journey had come to such a complete and beautiful poetic ending by Taylor, that the new turn, the new beginning was something about watching Beth and Rip start again,” Reilly said. “And not in the world of Montana. We’re not trying to get the ranch back. Like when we’re a new cast, new location, everything about it, new iteration era, a touch of maturity by Beth, maybe a little bit.”
That maturity matters to Reilly, who sees the role’s long-term nature as a gift.
“I’m aging as she is aging and the audience is watching, and I get to sort of step into her as a 48-year-old woman as opposed to a 35-year-old woman,” Reilly said. “And it’s different, and it’s different colors, and I get just to turn a page a little bit, bringing all that stuff that I’d found before and that Taylor had given me before, and now maybe just explore some new colors.”
Hauser, who also serves as an executive producer, said protecting Beth and Rip’s continuity was central to the process. He did not want the show to rush them into a new world without earning every shift.
“We spoke about the characters, how we wanted to continue to keep them consistent to who they are, but also show them evolve as characters,” Hauser said. “And I think the biggest thing is you can’t just go from zero to 60. You have to show them taking the stairs and not the elevator.”
That applied to new relationships, too, including Rip’s dynamic with Everett, played by Harris.
“You can’t just all of a sudden be friends with people,” Hauser said. “The Everett character, you know, Rip can’t just trust him right away. There has to be conversation and things that they go through for us to get to friendship naturally.”
Hauser also addressed the creative process behind Season 1, the departure of showrunner Chad Feehan, and the challenge of moving forward with Taylor Sheridan, who was less constantly present than he was on “Yellowstone.”
“Taylor is obviously one of the great writers here in America,” Hauser said. “Having him to be a soundboard and also to have him be able to kind of help guide not only the story, but the character, is a challenge in its own right, moving on. But, Chad Feehan and his staff, you know, we were in constant communication and talking.”
According to Hauser, Sheridan still had a major creative imprint on the show.
“[Taylor Sheridan] had his hands all over it,” Hauser said. “He’s always there if you need him, but I also think he was excited for us to take the journey, together, Kelly and I, and Christina Voros, who was fantastic. She’s been a part of the show since the beginning of time.”
The conversation also touched on rumors swirling around other “Yellowstone” spin-offs, including one once linked to Matthew McConaughey. Hauser said “Dutton Ranch” was its own idea, not a repurposed version of that project.
“Dutton was a one-off to its own,” Hauser said. “I know what you’re talking about. I’m friends with Matthew, so we had a little dialogue along the way years ago, but it had nothing to do with that. It just was how do we take these two creative beings and Kelly and me, and give us the roadmap to continue to create these characters and do something special that’s new and challenging and that’s entertaining ultimately for the audience.”
Hauser did, however, offer a small update on his upcoming series with McConaughey and Nic Pizzolatto, now titled “Arena.”
“We play two brothers,” Hauser said. “It’s about two brothers who coach in college sports, in Division One. Obviously, they coach together at the beginning of the story, and then as time goes on, they separate. I go and head coach somewhere, and he goes and head coaches at another school, and then it’s about how they eventually find each other in the National Championship.”
And because Bening is Bening, the conversation also found room for a quick detour into a part she came inches from playing in “Batman Returns.” Before Michelle Pfeiffer played Catwoman, Bening had been cast in the role before stepping away due to her pregnancy. Asked whether she remembered telling Tim Burton, Bening said she did.
“Yes, I do remember it. Yeah, I was going to play Catwoman,” Bening said. “Of course, when one gets pregnant, you can’t announce it right away. You have to wait for a while to make sure everything’s cool. So yeah, I do remember it, and he was incredibly kind, Tim Burton, when I called him up and said, ‘Hey, I’m really sorry, but I’m pregnant, and so I’m not going to be able to do the film.”
She even made it to the catsuit stage.
“I even did a catsuit fitting where they did like a latex thing,” Bening said. “There would be no hiding it in that outfit.”
Still, the memory that stayed with her the most had nothing to do with Gotham.
“I do remember it very well, but I’ll tell you what I remember more is having my baby,” Bening said. “My baby is now 34 years old, so there you go, but yeah, that did happen.”
“Dutton Ranch” premieres with two episodes on May 15 on Paramount+ and Paramount Network, with new episodes rolling out weekly. Listen to the full conversations with Kelly Reilly, Annette Bening, and Cole Hauser below:
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