Actor Ed Harris has voiced significant dissatisfaction with his role as Everett McKinney in the "Yellowstone" prequel, "Dutton Ranch," telling Variety that he felt "misled" and that his character was "inconsequential." Harris stated he asked his team to "get him the f–k out of" the production midway through filming its first season.
Harris, who joined the series expecting to be one of four main characters, claimed the reality of his role differed from what he was initially told. "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," Harris told Variety. "And that wasn’t really the case."
His frustration reportedly peaked when a singing scene he had been promised was cut from the show. "They didn’t show it. They said it was too up for the dark ending of that episode," Harris explained, adding, "That, to me, was reason enough to say, ‘I’m voiding my contract.’"
Despite his strong reaction, Harris is contractually obligated for the show's second season, which is scheduled to begin filming next year. He has been informed that his character will have a more substantial role in the upcoming season.
While acknowledging that McKinney played a "relatively important to the story" role in the first season, Harris maintained that "it didn’t feel that way" during production. He did not directly name creator Taylor Sheridan in his comments.
This comes after Sheridan himself recently spoke out about the current state of filmmaking, criticizing what he described as excessive executive interference and "endless rewrites" in television production. Sheridan, creator of "Yellowstone" and its various spin-offs, reportedly had disagreements with Paramount leadership before signing a deal with NBCUniversal last year.
