Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly talk about the runaway success of Netflix’s western romance Ransom Canyon caught even its stars off guard, with Kelly crediting the show’s old-fashioned escapism and cowboy flavor for its appeal in an increasingly chaotic news cycle.
The series, created by April Blair and based on the novels by Jodi Thomas, follows Duhamel’s Staten Kirkland, a widowed rancher who fights to protect his family’s Double K ranch, and Kelly’s Quinn O’Grady, a concert pianist returning to Texas after years away in New York.
When the series unexpectedly shot to the top of Netflix’s rankings after its debut, Kelly admits she was wary of the numbers at first.
“When it was the No. 1 show streaming, I was wondering, ‘Is Netflix putting us at No. 1 to boost us so people will watch us?’ Are we really?” she said. Yahoo.
Kelly believes the show’s appeal lies in offering viewers a gentler alternative to an often overwhelming news cycle.
“Life is really hard and complicated, and there are a lot of really scary things happening,” she said.
“There’s something about escaping into a kind of simplicity and
the innocence of returning to the simple things that truly matter, namely home, relationships and family. »
The show arrives amid a broader cultural wave of Western influence that extends well beyond television and extends into music and fashion.
Ransom CanyonThe ensemble has also attracted attention for reasons beyond the writing, with its cast of leading men, including Eoin Macken, Jack Schumacher, Garrett Wareing and Andrew Liner, generating plenty of online buzz themselves.
Series creator April Blair described Duhamel’s Staten as “the wounded, grizzled cowboy who isn’t necessarily always in touch with his emotions,” adding that the actor “brings a warmth and a sense of humor to him…there’s always a little Tad Hamilton in there somewhere.”
The second season of Ransom Canyonwhich picks up six months after Quinn left for New York, is now streaming on Netflix.
