Westworld alum Ed Harris is joining the sprawling franchise with a lead role on The Dutton Ranch, the spinoff series centering around the

lives of Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler on their new Montana ranch. Harris is set to star as Everett McKinney, a weathered veteran and veterinarian with a sense of humor, who treats animals with compassion and understanding.

 

 

The Oscar-nominated actor will join returning cast members Kelly Reilly (who plays Beth), Cole Hauser (Rip), and Finn Little (Carter), all reprising their roles from the flagship series. Annette Bening is also set to star in the drama as a character named Beulah Jackson, the powerful, cunning, and charming head of a major ranch in Texas.

 

 

logline for the sequel reads: “Beth Dutton (Reilley) and Rip Wheeler (Hauser) are grateful for the peace they sought, fought, and nearly died for with their 7,000-acre Dutton Ranch. With tough times and stiff competition, Beth and Rip do what they must to survive, all while ensuring Carter (Little) becomes the man he’s supposed to be.”

 

 

The series hails from executive producer and franchise mastermind Taylor Sheridan, with his collaborator Chad Feehan set to serve as its showrunner. Feehan previously worked with Sheridan to create the David Oyelowo–led miniseries Lawmen: Bass Reeves, about the first Black U.S. marshal.

Along with Reehan and Sheridan, stars Reilly and Hauser will executive-produce, as will David C. Glasser, John Linson, Art Linson, Ron Burkle, David Hutkin, Bob Yari, Michael Friedman, Christina Voros, and Keith Cox.

An acclaimed actor and four-time Academy Award nominee, Harris is known for delivering memorable performances in films like The Hours, The Truman Show, Apollo 13, The Firm, and in his feature directorial debut, Pollock. He most recently starred alongside Kristen Stewart in Love Lies Bleeding and Jennifer Coolidge in Riff Raff.

In television, Harris starred in the miniseries Empire Falls and the HBO movie Game Change. He also spent several seasons playing the enigmatic Man in Black on Westworld, earning an Emmy nomination for his turn as the gunslinging antagonist.

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With his role on The Dutton Ranch, Harris joins the growing list of A-list talent Sheridan has lured into the world of Yellowstone. Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren saddled up for the prequel series 1923, while Michelle Pfeiffer is set to star in The Madison, a spinoff about a family of city slickers who set up camp in the Madison River Valley of central Montana.

The Yellowstone spinoffs don’t stop there. Also in the works are the prequel 1944 and sequels Y: Marshals and 6666.

Kevin Costner got into a heated altercation with his Yellowstone co-star Wes Bentley, resulting in the production being briefly shut down, according to a new report.

Costner infamously left Taylor Sheridan’s Western drama ahead of the second half of the fifth and final season, resulting in his lead character being killed off. His exit came amid reports of a falling out with Sheridan over scheduling issues.

Citing sources in a wide-ranging new report about Costner, The Hollywood Reporter claims the 70-year-old was pushing Bentley, who plays his adoptive son on Yellowstone, to ditch Sheridan’s script in one scene in favour of Costner’s own take.

Bentley reportedly told Costner that he had signed up for Taylor Sheridan’s production, not Costner’s.

“Kevin didn’t like that, and he lunged at him,” an eyewitness source told the outlet. “No fists were thrown, but they were in each other’s faces, pushing and shoving and just getting hot until they had to be separated.”