July // 2026
Beth and Rip left Montana for Texas — And North Texas delivered for filming Dutton Ranch
Dutton Ranch
When Dutton Ranch — the Yellowstone spinoff starring Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser — premiered on Paramount+ on May 15, 2026, it opened not in the familiar blue-grey light of the Gallatin Range but in the harsh, saturated heat of South Texas. A different kind of cowboy country. And a completely different kind of filming location.
Production ran eight months, from August 2025 through March 2026, primarily across North Texas. The fictional town where Beth and Rip rebuild is called Rio Paloma. It doesn't exist. The places that built it very much do.
A handful of scenes in the pilot were filmed in Montana — specifically up until the wildfire that destroys the original ranch. Director, cinematographer and executive producer Christina Alexandra Voros was deliberate about the transition. "The light in Texas is so different from the light in Montana," she told TV Insider. "There is a harshness to it and a warmth to it. You don't get the blue mountaintops and the green valleys. It's a very rich, saturated, hot environment. That helped us navigate how to tell the story in a way that felt familiar in terms of camera language but different in terms of the visual landscape."
Ferris
The fictional heart of the show is Rio Paloma, a South Texas border town. The real heart of the production is Ferris — a small community of around 3,000 people sitting roughly 20 miles south of Dallas. Ferris's streets, storefronts and surrounding land provided the backbone of Rio Paloma across the season. The town embraced the attention.
When Taylor Sheridan's King Street Productions first contacted Ferris in August 2025 about filming a Yellowstone spinoff — working title Rio Palo — city officials had no idea Beth and Rip were involved. "We absolutely thought it would bring some name recognition, some notoriety to the city," Ferris City Manager Brooks Williams told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "We are a town that has been sleepy and small, but we are a town that is absolutely growing, and we have a lot to offer."
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Weatherford and the Saunders Ranch
The new Dutton Ranch — the fictional Edwards Ranch where Beth and Rip establish their South Texas base — is actually the Saunders Ranch near Weatherford in Parker County, west of Fort Worth. Established in 1934, the Saunders family ranch is known for breeding performance horses, producing rodeo livestock, and preserving multi-generational ranching traditions. The bunkhouse sequences for the rival 10 Petal Ranch were also filmed in Weatherford.
Boyd, Cleburne, Mineral Wells and Dallas
Beyond Ferris and Weatherford, filming spread across a wide arc of North Texas communities. Boyd, Cleburne, Mineral Wells, and Dallas all contributed specific sequences, with Fort Worth's stages housing much of the production's interior work. Executive producer David Glasser was direct about the decision to make Texas itself a character: "We looked at different places in Ferris, Dallas, and spent a big chunk in Fort Worth at the stages. Using Texas as a backdrop helped make it this authentic and grounded show. We didn't want to build a Texas backdrop or use green screens."
Dutton Ranch was renewed for a second season before its first season finale aired on July 3, 2026.
SOURCE
D Magazine // Atlas of Wonders // Hollywood Life // TV Insider // Fort Worth Star-Telegram
CREDITS
© Viacom International Inc. // Photo Emerson Miller/Paramount+
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