Ed Harris slams role in Yellowstone spin-off Dutton Ranch: ‘Get me out of here’

Legendary actor Ed Harris said he almost quit Yellowstone spin-off Dutton Ranch after feeling “misled” over his role.

The 75-year-old was billed as a main character in the Taylor Sheridan series, playing Everitt McKinney, an ally to Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser’s Beth Dutton and Rip Wheeler, but said he felt “misled” by the first season.

“Midway through the first season, I was ready to say, ‘get me the f--- out of here,’ to tell you the truth,” the veteran star told Variety.

“I didn’t feel I was being used. I felt very misled. 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 he raised his concerns, but did not name show creator Sheridan directly.

“I said, ‘I’m feeling underused and inconsequential’, and they kind of went, ‘Oh,’” he said.

Despite his reservations, Harris signed on for two seasons and said he had been told his character would have more to do in when the show returns.

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“It was just a little frustrating. When I watched the season, it’s fine, it’s pretty good. It seemed like I was relatively important to the story, but the doing of it didn’t feel that way,” he said.

There was one cut scene in particular that made him want to walk.

“What really pissed me off, to tell you the truth, is the first episode, or the second, they told me before I signed on that you get to sing in the bar … and they cut it! They said it was too ‘up’ for the dark ending of the episode … I’m like, ‘F--- you people!’ That, to me, is reason enough to say, ‘I’m voiding my contract.’”

Harris’ comments come shortly after Sheridan addressed similar criticism from critics about his use of Demi Moore in another of his series, Landman.

Sheridan told The Bill Simmons Podcast he knew the critics were going to come after him for “underutilising” the star. Those critics included Hollywood executives that Sheridan argued “know nothing”, even when it came to his hit series Yellowstone.

He also spoke about Kevin Costner‘s abrupt exit from Yellowstone’s fifth season, addressing long-standing rumours of a feud between them.

He confirmed the Oscar winner, who played patriarch John Dutton in the series, was only supposed to be in the first three seasons before son Kayce Dutton took over.

Sheridan said the network was “so scared of not having Kevin be part of it, even though Kevin was ready” because “the show was such a behemoth”.

“But creatively that can run in opposition. We had to tread a bit of water there, I think that was pretty evident,” he added.