'Ransom Canyon' Season 2: Everything We Know

Lies, deceit, and romance filled the first 10 episodes of Netflix’s newest small-town drama, Ransom Canyon. Starring Minka Kelly and Josh Duhamel as star-crossed lovers Quinn O’Grady and Staten Kirkland, the must-watch series follows three ranch families as industrialists looking to access a water pipeline pursue their land. The finale left many questions open-ended, including the fate of the ranches and the status of the three central, thorny romantic relationships.

While Netflix hasn’t officially renewed the western yet, Ransom Canyon is based on a book series, so there is plenty more story to sift through if showrunner April Blair is given the chance. In a post-mortem interview, Blair mentioned that the season 2 writer’s room was already underway, so a second season may not be as far away as we think. Here’s everything we know so far about season 2 of Ransom Canyon.

Is 'Ransom Canyon' renewed for season 2?

Netflix hasn’t revealed whether the drama is renewed for season 2, but that doesn’t mean it's dead in the water. Showrunner April Blair mentioned they’re “in the room on season 2” in an interview with Deadline, meaning the formal announcement is likely forthcoming.

When would 'Ransom Canyon' season 2 come out?

Ransom Canyon season 1 was first greenlit at Netflix in December 2023. It was eventually filmed between February and June 2024, before it premiered on streaming in April 2025. Given the 15-month production schedule, new episodes could arrive in fall 2026 if Netflix gives the go-ahead soon.

Who in the 'Ransom Canyon' cast would return for season 2?

Based on the finale, all major players should return in season 2, except for James Brolin, whose character, Cap Fuller, dies in season 1. Depending on whether the showrunners choose to employ a time jump, Minka Kelly’s character Quinn O’Grady may be missing for a few episodes as she returns to New York to play for the Philharmonic. Regardless, we can assume we’ll be seeing more of Kelly, Josh Duhamel (Staten Kirland), Lizzy Greene (Lauren Brigman), Philip Winchester (Dan Brigman) Eoin Macken (Davis Collins), Andrew Liner (Reid Collins), Garrett Wareing (Lucas Russell), Marianly Tejada (Ellie Estevez), Jack Schumacher (Yancy Grey), and Justin Johnson Cortez (Kai Flores).

Would there be new cast members in 'Ransom Canyon' season 2?

A second season of Ransom Canyon will also bring new characters into the fold. Fans will be most anxious to know who plays Yancy’s wife, who shockingly arrives in Ransom Canyon in the final moments of the season 1 finale. We don’t see her face, and, as it turns out, she still has yet to be cast.

However, the stand-in for that shot has a connection to one of the showrunner’s other projects. “A fun tidbit nobody knows is that the girl who played the back of her head was actually the star of my very first show, Jane by Design, that was on ABC Family at the time,” Blair told Deadline. “That was Erica Dasher, and she was just there to visit, and I said, ‘Will you, will you be the back of his wife’s head? And she’s like, ‘I will if you let me audition for her.’ So we don’t know [who will play her] yet. Obviously, it’ll be a brunette…now that we’re in the room on season 2, it’s a very fun character that’s shaping up and a very juicy backstory.”

We’ll have to wait and see if Dasher nabs the role or if it goes to someone else.

How does 'Ransom Canyon' season 1 end?

The finale of the Netflix western, titled “Maybe It’s Time Yancy Grey Dies Too,” ties up one major thread of the first season: Who is responsible for the death of Staten’s son Randall (Hubert Smielecki), who dies in a fatal car accident in the pilot? In the final two episodes of the first season, audiences find out that Margaret (Sarah Minnich), Lauren’s (Lizzy Greene) alcoholic mom and estranged wife of the local sheriff, Dan Brigman (Philip Winchester), was the perpetrator. She initially lets her lover Kit (Casey W. Johnson), Lucas’s brother, take the fall, but once Lauren finds out the truth, she urges her father to do the right thing and arrest Margaret for the crime.

But there are still quite a few other plotlines that leave us wanting more. Outside of romantic entanglements, the biggest question mark is the status of the war between the ranch owners and those in collusion with Austin Water & Power, who want to gain control of the land to access a water pipeline. This has put brothers-in-law Davis (Eoin Macken) and Staten at odds because Davis, who is secretly in debt, wants to cash in on the land and has been considering multiple avenues to get what he wants, while Staten has emphatically opposed that idea.

The finale gets Davis closer than ever with the help of Staten’s father, who is bitter about being passed over for ownership of the Double K Ranch. Sam (Brett Cullen) has been looking for a way to prove that Staten is mentally unfit to run the ranch—a hard thing to prove with evidence. That is, until Davis provokes Staten into a fight at Gracie’s Dance Hall and gets into Sam’s car with a shiner on his face. The finale doesn’t take away anyone’s land yet, but all signs point to Davis winning this battle.

Of the three major relationships at play in the finale, only one ends on an uplifting note…though even that may not be a happy ending. Lucas (Garrett Wareing) and Lauren’s plan to leave Ransom Canyon together hits a snag when she injures her shoulder, which kills her chances at a scholarship at the University of Texas in Austin. At Gracie’s, she corners Lucas in a thinly veiled attempt not to hold him back from his true potential, telling him they moved too fast and that she doesn’t want a serious relationship right now. Reid (Andrew Liner), sidelined by both his ex-girlfriend and his parents, gets a redemptive moment when he tells Lucas to go after Lauren or he will. Lucas takes the mic and declares his love for her on stage, telling her he’ll stay in Ransom Canyon if that’s where she’ll be. It would seem that season 1 leaves everything between them in a perfect spot, but one of the final times we see Lucas, he’s sifting through letters from prestigious colleges, likely questioning whether staying in Ransom Canyon for Lauren is really the best thing for him.

Quinn and Staten fare worse. (They don’t call it a “will-they-won’t-they relationship” for nothing.) After a few starts and stops—including hot tornado sex and a sentimental twine bracelet that the lovebirds tie around each other’s wrists to signify their relationship—the central couple of the series don’t end up together at the end of season 1. Quinn’s business, Gracie’s Dance Hall, is threatened by the foreboding Austin Power & Water, who wants their investment in her business back after she refused to convince Staten to sell his land. With the financial threat hanging over her and a visit from an old piano mentor, Quinn decides to take an offer to play with the New York Philharmonic for six months to earn the money she owes. Staten feels she is running away, lashes out at her, and gets into a fight with Davis. Quinn tells him, “All I ever wanted was you. All you ever wanted was your own pain.” Before he leaves, Staten leaves his bracelet on the bar counter, effectively ending things with her…for now.

Perhaps the most devastating is Yancy (Jack Schumacher) and Ellie’s (Marianly Tejada) love story. With his grandmother’s ring, he proposes to Ellie in the church where Cap once knelt down on one knee. Ellie is shocked and doesn’t immediately say yes, though she doesn’t say no either—a flicker of hope that Yancy holds onto. Ellie goes to Gracie’s, where Quinn tells her about her New York plan and asks her to be her partner at the dance hall. She also tells Kai (Justin Johnson Cortez), a local police officer who has warned Ellie about Yancy all season, that she plans to marry Yancy. Kai is understandably not thrilled—he still holds a candle for Ellie—but she reminds him that he was once a bad boy too, affirming her belief in both men’s capacity to change. Unfortunately, it looks like Kai’s concerns weren’t entirely rooted in jealousy: While Yancy is waiting in the church, ready for a romantic candlelit ceremony, Ellie is approached at Gracie’s by someone claiming to be Yancy’s wife.

What will 'Ransom Canyon' season 2 be about?

The first season of Ransom Canyon is loosely based on the eponymous romance book series by Jodi Thomas, so there’s plenty more story to pull from to propel future seasons. But Blair told New York Post that she doesn’t see the TV series following the book format, where each book followed a different set of characters, a la Bridgerton. “For TV, I love the characters we have,” she said, confirming that Staten and Quinn would remain the central characters in future seasons. “We’d want to stick with them.”

The events of the season 1 finale leave plenty to build off of: the fate of the three central ranches, the continued will-they-won’t-they between Quinn and Staten, and the drama that is sure to transpire with the arrival of Yancy’s wife. That being said, Ransom Canyon season 2 will have more than enough fuel for the fire.