'Dutton Ranch' Confirms Which New Character Kevin Costner's John Dutton Would Like the Most

Editor's note: The below interview contains spoilers for Dutton Ranch Episode 6.

Although Taylor Sheridan's Yellowstone wrapped up with its fifth and final season two years ago, the hit neo-Western franchise has already continued its story through the next generation, with two spin-offs about John Dutton's (Kevin Costner) offspring. Kayce (Luke Grimes) is holding down the fort back in Montana on the CBS procedural Marshals, but his sister Beth (Kelly Reilly) and her husband Rip (Cole Hauser) are starting over in Rio Paloma, Texas on their own series, aptly titled Dutton Ranch. The Dutton legacy only counts for so much, however, when an unforeseen disaster sweeps through their ranch's herd of cattle, leaving Beth and Rip picking up the pieces and forcing them to work alongside their biggest rival, Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening), owner of the historic 10-Petal Ranch, until they can get back on their feet.

Ahead of Dutton Ranch's newest episode, Collider had the opportunity to speak with one of the series' new additions in Marc Menchaca, who plays Beth and Rip's new ranch hand Zachariah Moss, about his character's heavy past and how divulging that painful truth forges even stronger bonds afterward. Below, the actor also discusses what it was like to have his first one-on-one scene with Reilly (and why they're always pitching to do more together), the roping work he put in ahead of Episode 6's friendly bet between the Dutton Ranch and 10-Petal ranch hands, and more.

COLLIDER: There's a scene that I've been dying to ask you about, which is the fireside monologue that you give as Zachariah, coming clean about how he was incarcerated, and the really personal trauma linked to that. I read that you didn't really know what his backstory was until after you joined Dutton Ranch, so what does a scene like that do to change your perception of the character, in terms of getting a sense of that additional weight to bring to the performance?

MARC MENCHACA: It changed everything. I found that out right before we started shooting. We had a meeting. You always want to find these beacons that you can steer towards, and when Chad [Feehan] and Christina [Alexandra Voros] told me that, that was like the one bit of information that I needed.

That was all I needed to know who Zach is today, and really, who he was before, too. Zach didn't come from anything and fell in love with Terry Jane. They were a family — not a well-to-do family, but they were an upstanding family, and it was kind of like he had hit the jackpot. Then he lost it all in a moment of anger and alcohol.

'Dutton Ranch' Star Explains the Turning Point That Leads to the Ranch Hands Becoming a Family

"... I feel like that moment did something that changed the dynamic of our group."

It’s this really quietly powerful moment, not just for your character but for the camaraderie between the ranch hands and Rip. Do you feel like it changes the dynamic within the group from that point on and is a step forward in them becoming more than just coworkers?

MENCHACA: Definitely. I think it's hard to crack that shell of Rip. My feelings about it are that I feel like Zach has, for years, dealt with the consequences of this and has been open, but then open within a confined space. Then he comes back out, and facing that judgment is a totally different thing than having talked about it in group therapy or whatever he did in prison.

So, when Rip asks for more information, rightfully so, because of Terry Jane’s mom coming onto the property, I think that moment, for the three of us at least — and for Everett, as well, because I think Everett’s known who I was for a long time, and he knows all the dirt in the town — and just building a trust between us, I feel like that moment did something that changed the dynamic of our group.

Episode 4 is both a low point for Beth and Rip and for the show. After that, both of those characters are trying to figure out their next steps, but you have a really nice scene with Kelly [Reilly], where it's just the two of you talking, and she asks Zachariah to call her Beth. What was it like to have just Kelly as a scene partner, especially when it's literally just the two of you having a smoke and quiet conversation, looking out at the land in the aftermath of this pretty traumatic event for the ranch?

MENCHACA: It was an incredibly nice moment for Zach. Rip is his boss, and Kelly and I don't really have much interaction, and she's kind of spearheaded this fight for us. Both of us really want to work together more, and we've known each other for a very long time. The scene that ended up coming together, I feel like it was this moment of grace with her character.

She's such a badass and a hardass a lot of the time. I'm sure that he had heard rumors of who [Beth] was, and for her to, first of all, tell him to quit calling her ma'am, and saying that her dad would have liked me, it was almost like a welcome home. “We lost everything, but you're welcome here.” Zach doesn't have anything, so he's completely dependent on this family. Having been unsure of what was going to happen after the cattle had to go, it was a nice little breather to be like, “We're going to make something happen, and I'll do whatever I can to help out.”

'Dutton Ranch's Marc Menchaca Spent Hours Roping To Prepare for Episode 6's Competition

"... we were just out roping on all of our days off."

There's a scene in this week's episode that serves as a nice reminder that it isn't all doom and gloom, even though there's a bit of rivalry between Dutton Ranch and the 10-Petal. It was really great to see you get in on the competition with the roping in Episode 6. How much of that did you and the other actors get to do yourselves?

MENCHACA: They gave us runs. I kind of forced them to give us more than they wanted to. Obviously, with filming, there are time constraints. Wes and Jordan, our stunt doubles, are both incredible and are incredibly dependable as far as catching calves or steers. I put my foot down one time, and I said, “No.” They had told us what was going to happen, and I was like, “No, you're putting us in with them. You're going to give us another go.” Because we had one of our steers drop short.

Anyways, we did get to do a lot. Not as much as we wanted, just because of the time constraints, but J.R. [Villarreal] and I literally worked our asses off. We went out every day off, and we were just out roping on all of our days off. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun getting to hang out with all the cowboys. We’d go out to rope and then go to lunch and then go back and do some work with cattle. So, yeah, we got to do quite a bit. It was fun.

New episodes of Dutton Ranch premiere Fridays on Paramount+.