Ransom Canyon Season 2 landed on Netflix on Thursday, July 23. The eight-episode season follows Quinn O’Grady’s (Minka Kelly) return to Ransom Canyon, Staten Kirkland’s (Josh Duhamel) reaction to it, and how their relationship ebbs and flows as they navigate being back in close proximity to each other. A new love interest enters the mix, a few famous faces from country music make an appearance, and the season wraps with a promise for the future. But, as of publishing, there’s been no news confirming a third season. Still, many believe it’s only a matter of time. Just two months after the Season 1 premiere, the romantic neo-Western series was greenlit for a second season. Now, Ransom Canyon fans and actors alike are hoping that the same fate is in store.
As for what they’re most excited to explore if and when a third season is scooped up? “The fascinating dynamic of the mundane—the mundanity and domesticity; just like really getting into the nuts and bolts of what it takes to really build a life together,” Minka tells Country Living. “Like, ‘Okay, let's see what you’ve got,’ you know? Are they going to have a baby? Do they both want the same things when it comes to building a life together? When you see each other's ugliest parts, do you still choose each other? [There are] endless possibilities that I'm excited to explore, if we're lucky.”
Considering Ransom Canyon is one of Netflix’s most popular comfort shows, tracking alongside Virgin River, Sweet Magnolias, and My Life with the Walter Boys, and the fact that Season 1 spent four weeks in the Global Top 10 TV (English) list and reached the Top 10 TV in 77 countries, there’s no denying that the romantic drama resonates with fans.
“I think it's a nice escape to watch something that gets back down to the basics,” Minka says. “You know, there's something nostalgic, no matter where you live, or where you are, to watch something that's set in this beautiful landscape, where the priority is family and home, and something as relatable as relationships, and second chances, and betrayal, and love. I think there's really something to watching something that feels like a nice escape. It's beautiful to watch; it's sexy; it's just got all the things—there's something for everybody, I think. And when it's all complicated and noisy and scary [in real life], I think honing in on something that doesn't challenge you too much, but maybe just enough, and sort of feels like home, there’s clearly something to it.”
While Minka and Josh didn’t originally anticipate this kind of fan reaction to the “drama-without-the-trauma” series, they’re beyond grateful for the way it’s unfolding.
“I mean, you never set out to make a show that doesn't work—you're always trying to make something that really resonates with people—and we knew that we had a good shot at that, because it felt right; it felt like we were doing that when we were making it,” Josh tells Country Living. “My scenes with [Minka], especially, felt really grounded and real, and people are going to feel that. We felt like that anyway.”
So when Ransom Canyon catapulted into the global Top 10, it was like a gold star for a job well done. “It's always a big relief,” Josh admits. “To see the impact—people are really digging it, and they're excited for the second season—it's fun, because it's hard to get wins in this game, because there's so much out there, and there are so many shots, and all the things have to come together in order for it to hit. And this one did, thanks to Netflix, thanks to the whole team that we have, and thanks to the people who will watch it.”
Ransom Canyon Seasons 1 and 2 are available to stream on Netflix.
Rebecca Norris is a full-time freelance writer living in the Washington, D.C. metro area. Over the past 10+ years, she’s heavily covered a range of lifestyle topics, including travel, home, beauty, style, wellness, and celebrity news. She is a graduate of George Mason University, where she earned a B.A. in Media: Production, Consumption, and Critique, along with a minor in Electronic Journalism. When she's not writing, she can be found strolling with her Jack-Chi, Cash, sipping iced matcha lattes, indulging in delicious cuisine, perusing farmer’s markets and antique sales, collecting colored glass, getting lost within the pages of a book, and exploring new bucket-list cities.
