Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly say the runaway success of Netflix’s western romance Ransom Canyon caught even its stars off guard, with Kelly crediting the show’s old-school, cowboy-flavored escapism for its appeal in an increasingly chaotic news cycle.
Created by April Blair and based on the novels by Jodi Thomas, the series follows Duhamel’s Staten Kirkland, a widowed rancher fighting to protect his family’s Double K Ranch, and Kelly’s Quinn O’Grady, a concert pianist who returns to Texas after several years in New York.
When the show unexpectedly shot to the top of Netflix’s charts after its debut, Kelly admits she was suspicious of the numbers at first.
“When it was the No. 1 streaming show, I thought, ‘Is Netflix putting us at No. 1 to boost us so people will watch us? Are we for real?'” she shared Yahoo.
Kelly believes the show’s appeal lies in offering viewers a milder alternative to an often overwhelming news cycle.
“Life is really hard and complicated and there are a lot of really scary things going on,” she said.
“There is something about escaping into that kind of simplicity and that
the innocence of getting back to the simple things that really matter, which are home and relationships and family.”
The show arrives amid a wider cultural wave of Western influence that is spreading far beyond television and into music and fashion.
Ransom Canyon‘s 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 of their own.
Series creator April Blair has described Duhamel’s Staten as “the wounded, grizzled cowboy who’s not 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.”
Season two of Ransom Canyonwhich starts six months after Quinn’s departure for New York, is now streaming on Netflix.
