In a surprise appearance at the Paramount UK Upfronts, Kelly Reilly has offiically revealed that Dutton Ranch will begin filming Season 2 in just a few months.
Yellowstone spin-off Dutton Ranch has been a huge hit for Paramount+ and the expected Season 2 renewal came with two episodes still to stream of Season 1. Filming will begin in early 2027, Reilly said.
Dutton Ranch follows Reilly’s character Beth Dutton, starting afresh, alongside stars like Annette Bening, Ed Harris and Cole Hauser. Reilly starred across five seasons of Yellowstone, which wrapped in 2024.
Dutton Ranch achieved 12.9 million viewers worldwide during its first week, Reilly, a native Brit, told the audience of executives, advertisers and press at the Paramount UK upfronts just two and a half weeks after the $110B Skydance mega-merger.
She described Dutton Ranch as “a risk I’m proud we took, taking Beth from the mothership to start a new life in South Texas with lots of snakes.” “The response across the world, well I am surprised and grateful,” she added.
Branagh and Sarsgaard on ‘Laird‘
Big stars like Kenneth Branagh and Peter Sarsgaard were also present on the night, who both star in upcoming Jez Butterworth Paramount+ drama Laird. First-look images were shown of Laird and producer David Glasser sat alongside Branagh and Sarsgaard to talk the audience through the show. Set in the modern Scottish Highlands, Laird is an epic family saga in which a proud Scot, Drummoch, defies a shadowy American billionaire, Peter Bergstrom, hellbent on buying up the glens.
Branagh said the show is about a “dysfunctional family” coming up against an “extraordinary character,” played by Sarsgaard. “It’s a great world and has lots of riveting characters made by people who know how to put these things together,” he added. “It’s a very singular experience.”
Sarsgaard said filming Laird has been like “being shot out of a cannon.” “We’re working, we’re really doing it,” he added. “I really like the intensity of it.”
Garnering one of the biggest applauses of the night, Sarsgaard said he “doesn’t feel conflicted” playing a malevolent American billionaire in Laird. “It’s an interesting time to be an American in the world,” he added. “When I grew up you watched Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Nazis were the bad guys. But I don’t feel conflicted right now. It feels right and I’m really enjoying that aspect of it.”
101 Studios boss Glasser has made many hits for Paramount including Yellowstone and MobLand. His tease for Season 3 of the latter, “someone will challenge Tom Hardy this season.” This drew one of the biggest cheers of the night.
Via video link, Samuel L. Jackson introduced a trailer of Frisco King to the audience, while soccer superstar David Beckham was on hand to talk up his Beckham & Friends Champions League series that is soon set to go international. “Finally my mum can watch it as well,” joked Beckham.
That is because Paramount+ has Champion’s League soccer rights in the UK and Gemany from next year after a heated auction that was reported to be well in excess of the current $1.3B deal in place with Warner Bros Discovery’s TNT Sports (when the deal was struck the pair weren’t merged). The five-year deal is one of the biggest in international sports rights.
At the Paramount UK Upfronts, led by President, International Markets Ad Sales, Lee Sears, execs were talking up a new world in the UK where Paramount’s 5 has struck a historic deal with Channel 4 over advertising. At the same time, Paramount has brought ads in house for Paramount+ and Pluto TV.
The event at London’s Royal Academy comes just two and a half weeks after the Skydance merger closed. The audience at the UK Upfronts were shown a splashy trail of the best Paramount-Warner content to the tune of a remix of The Beatles’ “Come Together” and Eminem’s “Let’s Get Down to Business”.
The event was packed full of executives, advertisers and press.