Inside the 'Dutton Ranch' drama: Cole Hauser, Taylor Sheridan, Ed Harris

The Yellowstone spinoff Dutton Ranch has been a fiery one, literally, and now we're getting a peek behind the curtain from Rip Wheeler himself. That's right, actor Cole Hauser told the outlet Film Inside that everything had changed on the series without having Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan on set. That meant new writers, new directors, and new challenges. Quote, I enjoy a challenge. It certainly was a challenge. It was about putting my head down and working my ass off with what I had around me. We worked our asses off this year. Hauser added that a lot of the outside noise regarding the weight of the hit show wasn't really apparent to him at the time. That noise included Taylor Sheridan's reported clashes with Paramount's new leadership. The Wall Street Journal reported their new CEO and Trump ally, David Ellison, reportedly suggested a series tied to America 250. Sheridan allegedly pushed back because he didn't want to make a show too politically charged. Sources also claim Sheridan was unhappy with the budget of his Nicole Kidman-led spy series, Special Ops Lioness, as well as Kidman being cast in a separate Paramount series, Discretion, allegedly creating potential scheduling conflicts. Well, good luck telling the hardest-working woman in Hollywood to slow down. In the end, Taylor Sheridan decided to leave Paramount and sign with NBCUniversal instead, in a deal worth a reported $1 billion. But that's not all. Another bit of rumbling came from Ed Harris. At the premiere of the pickleball comedy, The Dink, the 75-year-old four-time Oscar nominee wasn't laughing. He told Variety that he begged his team to get him out of Dutton Ranch after a bad experience on season one, where he felt his character Everett McKinney was, quote, inconsequential. I did wait through this first season, so get me the f**k out of here, to tell you the truth. Why is that? Because I didn't feel I was being used. I didn't feel, uh, I felt a little bit misled. Harris also said he was pissed when the producers cut a scene where his character is supposed to sing in a bar. Harris plays a Vietnam vet-slash-veterinarian opposite Annette Bening. She has five Oscar noms. And you may remember Ed Harris' wife, Amy Madigan, picked up a little gold man earlier this year for her terrifying role in Weapons. Dutton Ranch drama aside, her hubby Harris is expected to return for season two, which is currently being written, with the actor being, quote, kept in the loop, according to Variety. Notably, Harris did not name-drop Sheridan, who still has an executive producer credit on the spinoff. We'll see how it all shakes out in season two of Dutton Ranch, set to begin filming in January. Yeehaw.