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Ed Harris felt “misled” by his role on Yellowstone spinoff series Dutton Ranch, saying he nearly wanted to void his contract over issues with how his character, Everett McKinney, was used… or rather, how he wasn’t used.
Harris opened up about the situation in a carpet interview with Variety at the premier of Apple TV’s ‘The Dink,’ speaking plainly about his difference of opinion with producers at Paramount.
The actor, who portrays grizzled Vietnam veteran Everett McKinney, says he was told that McKinney would be one of four main characters on the Dutton Ranch spinoff. But according to Harris, that didn’t end up holding true.
“Midway through the first season, I was ready to say, ‘Get me the f**k out of here,’ to tell you the truth,” he explained. “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.”
He even approached the producers over this issue, but their conversation didn’t end up really going anywhere. That being said, he’s been told McKinney will have “a little bit more to do” in Season 2. He is currently signed for two seasons of the show.
“I said, ‘I’m feeling underused and inconsequential,’ and they kind of went, ‘Oh,’” he continued. “I was just a little frustrated, to tell you the truth.”
While Harris claimed it was “frustrating” not doing as much as he’d anticipated while actively filming, the result ended up being “pretty good” in his opinion.
“It seemed like I was relatively important to the story, but the doing of it didn’t feel that way,” he said.
However, what really hacked him off was the choice to axe a scene where McKinney got to sing at the local watering hole — something that got under his skin so bad, he considered voiding his contract with the studio.
“The thing that really pissed me off, to tell you the truth, is the first episode I think it was, or the second, one of the things they told me before I signed on was, ‘Hey, you get to sing a song in the bar.’
“I’m talking to [Beth Dutton] at the bar, and [Rip Wheeler] comes in and says, ‘Okay, Everett, come on, it’s your turn,” Harris said. “I walk up to the mic, and they cut it. …They cut the song out. I’m going, ‘Fuck you, people.’”
Ed Harris says he felt “misled” about his “inconsequential” role on “Dutton Ranch,” and that halfway through filming Season 1, he was telling his team to “get me the f— out of here.”
“Prior to signing on for it, I was talked to quite a bit about what the season was, and what… pic.twitter.com/StmmazVogC
— Variety (@Variety) July 21, 2026
Producers told Harris it was “too up” for the “dark ending of that episode,” but for him, it was “reason enough to say, ‘I’m voiding my contract.’”
Dutton Ranch Season 1 is available to stream on Paramount+, with Harris confirming that Season 2 is expected to start filming in February 2027.
(Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
