Yellowstone’s ‘Dutton Ranch’ Showrunner Is Not Returning for Season 2 After Reported Cast Friction
Us Weekly can confirm that Chad Feehan will not return as showrunner after completing work on season 1. Feehan, who created Lawmen: Bass Reeves with Taylor Sheridan, reportedly departed Dutton Ranch after alleged friction with series stars Cole Hauser and Kelly Reilly, among others, according to Puck News.
Sheridan and his producing partner David Glasser, along with the two leads, were allegedly more unhappy with how Feehan ran the production than with the scripts.
Yellowstone, which premiered in 2018, introduced viewers to the fictional Dutton family, who own the largest ranch in Montana. Rip (Hauser) and Beth (Reilly) quickly became a fan-favorite couple as they navigated major ups and downs together.
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Since Yellowstone came to an end in 2024, the TV universe expanded with Luke Grimes‘ CBS show Marshals and more. Paramount+ previously released a sneak peek clip from Dutton Ranch set to Eminem’s “Till I Collapse” as Rip and Beth — as well as Finn Little‘s Carter — adjust to life in Texas after their time in Montana.
Annette Bening and Ed Harrisare also featured on the show alongside other newcomers such as Jai Courtney, Natalie Alyn Lind, Marc Menchaca, Juan Pablo Raba and J. R. Villarreal.
“As Beth and Rip fight to build a future together — far from the ghosts of Yellowstone — they collide with brutal new realities and a ruthless rival ranch that will stop at nothing to protect its empire,” read the show’s synopsis ahead of its premiere on May 15. “In South Texas, blood runs deeper, forgiveness is fleeting, and the cost of survival might just be your soul.”
Sheridan, meanwhile, has been focused on his other shows, including Landman, Mayor of Kingstown, Lioness and Tulsa King. News broke in October 2025 that Sheridan closed a major with NBCUniversal. The five-year overall deal for film, TV and streaming will begin January 1, 2029, after Sheridan’s TV deal with Paramount — which goes through 2028 — officially ends.
‘Yellowstone’ Creator Taylor Sheridan’s Ups and Downs: From Creating a TV Empire to Offscreen Controversies
Paramount will retain the rights to Yellowstone and the other franchises Sheridan created under his deal with the company, so he is expected to create brand new IP for NBCUniversal. Sheridan’s move came after Paramount’s recent merger with Skydance.
Sheridan previously opened up about not wanting to “compromise” on his storytelling vision, telling The Hollywood Reporter in 2023, “I spent the first 37 years of my life compromising. When I quit acting, I decided that I am going to tell my stories my way, period. If you don’t want me to tell them, fine. Give them back and I’ll find someone who does — or I won’t, and then I’ll read them in some freaking dinner theater. But I won’t compromise. There is no compromising.”
Sheridan had praised Paramount in the past for supporting his vision.
“Because Paramount trusts me and gives me the time to go shoot 10 to 14 days for a television episode, we can treat it like a movie, and it looks like a movie,” he told Deadline in January 2022. “We can take the time to rehearse it and light it and build these set pieces. And if I call them and say, ‘I need two helicopters in one day,’ they just go, ‘Alright.’”
He added: “At the end of the day, to go to some of these locations where most people have never been, where you’re opening up a new world, and all of these places or characters in the story, to me, it’s fascinating.”