If you can’t take the heat, get out of Texas! Rip Wheeler would probably hate that advice, but Cole Hauser may understand it a little better now.
Hauser recently opened up to People about filming the first season of Dutton Ranch, and it turns out the hardest part wasn’t one especially brutal fight scene or emotional Rip moment. It was nine months of Texas weather that simply could not make up its mind.
“We went through a lot of weather issues with the heat, then the freezing cold, and there were ice storms,” Hauser told the outlet. “It was just nuts.”
He isn’t exaggerating! Director Christina Alexandra Voros previously said filming began in temperatures around 106 degrees, then ended months later with an ice storm that shut production down for four days. Hauser also had trouble maintaining the extra weight he typically puts on to play Rip because he was “sweating it out” in the heat. Apparently, the black jacket and cowboy hat are not breathable summer separates.
By the time the cast and crew reached the action-packed Season 1 finale, everyone was feeling it. “I think everybody at the very end of episode 9 was ready to take a breather, go home, rest up and get ready for this next year,” Hauser said.
Fortunately, all that weather-related misery came with a happy ending. Hauser called the season “very rewarding,” and the show became Paramount+’s biggest original-series launch before being renewed for Season 2.
The next season will also welcome new showrunner Ben Cavell, whom Hauser described as “a very special guy.” He isn’t revealing what Cavell has planned for Rip, Beth, and Carter just yet, but he did promise that the future looks bright.
For now, though, Hauser is taking his own advice: Rest first. Return to Texas later. 😂
