Ed Harris‘ first Taylor Sheridan project has apparently not been one for the books for the Oscar nominee.
While speaking with Variety on the red carpet for The Dink on Monday (July 20), Harris said he is signed on for two seasons of Dutton Ranch, the Yellowstone spinoff series headlined by Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser in which he plays large animal veterinarian Everett McKinney. However, he told the outlet that “midway through the first season,” he was saying “get me the fuck out of here.” As for why, he explained that he “didn’t feel like [he] was being used.”
“I felt a little bit misled,” he shared. “Well, prior to signing on for it, I was talked to quite a bit 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.”
According to Harris, he said that he was “feeling unused and inconsequential.” While he teased that they start filming Season 2 in February, he said he was told that his character “will have a little bit more to do” next season, though he admitted he was “a little frustrated” with his experience on Season 1.
DECIDER reached out to Paramount+ for comment, but did not hear back by time of publication.
Ultimately, Harris said that he thought Season 1 was “pretty good,” and felt “fine” about his work on the series and that his character “seemed like [he] was relatively important to the story.”
“But the doing of it did not feel that way,” he elaborated.
Nonetheless, Harris was also “really pissed” off about a scene of his that did not make it to streaming in Season 1 Episode 2, “Earn Another Day,” in which he was supposed to sing,
“One of the things they told me before I signed on, ‘Hey, you get to sing in the bar,’” he recalled. “So there’s this scene in there…. I’m talking to Kelly at the bar and Cole comes in and says, ‘Ok Everett, come on, it’s your turn.’ I walk up to the mic, and they cut it. They cut it! They cut the song out. I’m going, ‘Fuck you people.’”
Harris added that they cut the scene because “it was too up for the dark ending of that episode.”
“To me, that was reason enough to say I’m voiding my contract,” he said.
Dutton Ranch underwent a recent showrunner shakeup following Chad Feehan‘s exit. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Benjamin Cavell has taken over the role for Season 2, which was renewed by Paramount+ in June.
