Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser in 'Dutton Ranch.'

Lauren “Lo” Smith/Paramount+.

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[This story contains major spoilers from the first two episodes of Dutton Ranch.]

It’s been a whirlwind for the Yellowstone franchise, and particularly for Christina Alexandra Voros. Coming out of the mega-hit flagship as one of Taylor Sheridan‘s right-hand directors, Voros has been spending so much time filming Sheridan’s post-Yellowstone series that she and husband Jason Owen, who works on the franchise as animal coordinator, even bought a home in Texas.

“I finally broke down and got a place at Fort Worth. I have not been home-home since April of last year!” she tells The Hollywood Reporter while discussing the newest Yellowstone spinoff, Dutton Ranch. The highly anticipated series brings fan-favorite couple Beth Dutton, played by Kelly Reilly, and Rip Wheeler, played by Cole Hauser, back to television. The first two episodes of the nine-episode season were released Friday on Paramount+.

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“We were here [in New York], what, two months ago for The Madison?” says Voros of another Sheridan series, which exists outside of Yellowstone and stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Kurt Russell. “I left here. I finished up [directing] the finale of Dutton Ranch, and then moved onto prepping Frisco King [Sheridan’s Tulsa King spinoff], which we’re in the process of shooting right now.”

Voros has been on board for Dutton Ranch ever since conversations began years ago, before Yellowstone even aired its final episode. The summer before Yellowstone signed off in 2023, David Glasser at 101 Studios and Keith Cox at Paramount began exploring how they could continue on Sheridan’s mega-hit franchise. They were pursuing either a spinoff about Kayce Dutton or a spinoff about Beth Dutton, and they ended up getting spinoffs for both Dutton siblings. Marshals, following Luke Grimes‘ Kayce, has been airing weekly on CBS this spring.

The hook for both series was how to upend the peaceful endings each surviving Dutton child was handed in the Yellowstone series finale. Marshals did that by killing off Kayce’s wife, Monica Dutton (Kelsey Asbille), and pushing him to start anew with the U.S. Marshals. Now Dutton Ranch has revealed in its premiere that the Montana ranch Beth and Rip had planned to make home after leaving the family ranch behind burnt to the ground in a fire, forcing them to start over in Rio Paloma, Texas, where they encounter a new adversary played by Annette Bening and enough Yellowstone-style violence that Rip starts a new “train station” (the Yellowstone term for the graveyard of Dutton enemies) by the end of episode two.

This time around, Reilly and Hauser have been elevated to executive producers, and Sheridan handed over the reins to showrunner Chad Feehan to write the scripts and run the set. “They were very protective of their own voices and their love for each other,” she says of her two stars. “And of the story and legacy they are a part of. It was a really beautiful thing to see them be able to take those reins.”

Below in conversation with THR, Voros peels back the curtain on building Dutton Ranch, splitting her time on Sheridan series to direct the first two episodes and then return for the finale, how the show plans to adapt if it’s renewed for season two after Feehan’s exit (as they await a renewal and new showrunner), and why Beth and Rip were meant for a spinoff: “You think they are going to ride off happily into the sunset, but it’s Rip and Beth, so the danger is always going to follow them. Yellowstone was always about maintaining the legacy and protecting the land, and with the absence of the land, what Beth and Rip have is each other.”

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So Paramount wanted Yellowstone spinoffs ASAP. Those conversations began before Yellowstone was even over. So when did this first come to you, for Dutton Ranch, specifically? Do you remember the date?

It’s been such a whirlwind. I can’t tell you exactly when it was. I just knew that as soon as I knew about it, it was exactly where I wanted to be. I would walk through fire for Kelly and Cole. They are family to me. I feel so lucky to have been part of that show and their story for as many years. We have done birthdays and anniversaries and funerals. We’ve been through the fire with each other, and it was really, really exciting for me to move into this new chapter of their story with them.

No one knew that the strikes were going to happen and that the final season of Yellowstone would get so delayed [over Kevin Costner negotiations]. The Madison the

'Dutton Ranch' Premiere Burns Down Beth and Rip's 'Yellowstone' Ending