Taylor Sheridan’s done it again. His shows aren’t exactly groundbreaking, but boy do movie stars love working with him. So far he’s enticed the likes of Nicole Kidman, Zoë Saldaña, Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, Billy Bob Thornton, Jeremy Renner, Michelle Pfeiffer, and a number of other A-list stars onto the small screen and into his fiefdom over at Paramount+. Now, Annette Bening becomes the latest Oscar-caliber actor to join the house that Kevin Costner built, as Deadline reports she’s set to star in the Yellowstone spin-off The Dutton House.
Bening will appear in the new series opposite original series stars Kelly Reilly, Cole Hauser, and Finn Little. Here’s a description of the show, per Deadline: “The Dutton Ranch, home to Beth Dutton (Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Hauser), is a testament to the peace they sought, fought for, and nearly died for, as they’ve come to cherish their 7,000-acre land. With tough times and stiff competition, Beth and Rip do what they must to survive, all while ensuring Carter (Little) becomes the man he’s supposed to be.” Bening plays “Beulah Jackson, the powerful, cunning and charming head of a major ranch in Texas.”
This is not Annette Bening’s first outing on television; she previously starred on the Peacock limited series Apples Never Fall, and will appear in the upcoming Apple TV+ show Lucky. But outside of an Emmy nomination for the 2005 TV movie Mrs. Harris, she’s primarily been a film actor throughout her career. Last year, she told TV Insider that Apples Never Fall “just came at the right time,” and said her philosophy for choosing any project (TV or otherwise) is “about the people, always. Well, it’s about the writing, because the writing is the writing, but then it’s about the people.” Given that she’s signed on for her third TV show in two years—and this one, presumably, will last a few seasons, as the original Yellowstone did—we have to imagine that the medium is a draw for her, as well.
