Ed Harris says he felt misled about his ‘Dutton Ranch’ role

The first season of Dutton Ranch may have wrapped up, but the behind-the-scenes drama is still going strong. At least, that seemed to be the case when Ed Harris, who appears on the series as veterinarian Everett McKinney, spoke to Variety at the premiere of the Apple TV film The Dink. The 4-time Oscar nominee confessed that he’d had a bone to pick about his role on the Yellowstone spinoff, saying, among other things, that he’d felt misled about the nature and size of his role.

“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 told the publication. Taking things up with the production didn’t seem to get results either, with the star explaining, “I said, ‘I’m feeling underused and inconsequential,’ and they kind of went, ‘Oh.'”

By the midpoint of the first season, he said he was telling his management team to “get me the f*** out of here.”

Indeed, Harris revealed that he even considered voiding his contract over one scene that was left on the cutting room floor. “So there’s this scene in there … I’m talking to [Beth Dutton] at the bar, and [Rip Wheeler] comes in and says, ‘OK, Everett, come on, it’s your turn,” Harris explained. “I walk up to the mic, and they cut it. They cut the song out. I’m going, ‘F*** you, people.'”

While Harris was told by the production that the song didn’t fit the tone they were going for in the scene, the actor admitted that at the time he felt that was “enough reason to say ‘I’m voiding my contract.’”

Ultimately, as fans know, the star did stay on through the full first season, and even seemed to indicate he would be making a return for a second outing. Harris admitted that after watching the season, he found the show “pretty good,” and that his character seemed “relatively important to the story,” even if “it didn’t feel that way” during filming.

He added, “I’m being told my character will have a little bit more to do [in Season 2]. I was just a little frustrated, to tell you the truth.”