The Real-Life Partners Of Netflix's Ransom Canyon

In April 2025, Netflix dropped the first season of "Ransom Canyon." It's a Western series about ranch families in Texas vying for control of the land. If the concept sounds familiar — if, say, you were to swap out Texas for Montana — the cast of "Ransom Canyon" would like you to know that the show is not a "Yellowstone" copycat, thank you very much. Minka Kelly, who plays Quinn O'Grady on the show, told E! News that she doesn't agree with the comparisons. "I guess they're both in the same sandbox, but I think 'Ransom' is a totally different thing," she said. "It's its own entirely different world."

For one thing, "Ransom Canyon" is way more of a romance than "Yellowstone" is. The show is based on a series of novels by Jodi Thomas, a sweeping story about not just control of resources but the romantic escapades of the people who work the land. As a result, it's easy to fall in love with the show's characters, to get caught up in their on-screen love lives — and to wonder what the show's stars have going on in their own love lives off-screen. Some are married to longtime loves; others are newly dating people they worked with as kids. Some are still with their high-school sweethearts; others are on their second high-profile marriage. Read on to learn more about the real-life partners of the cast of Netflix's "Ransom Canyon."

Minka Kelly plays Quinn O'Grady on "Ransom Canyon," a longtime resident who owns a bar in town that serves as a sort of watering hole for the locals. She's been in love with Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel) for a long time, but he was married and had a kid, so she's resigned herself to never being able to act on her crush — until Staten suffers a horrible loss, and Quinn finds herself caught up in a love triangle. "It's this thing of, when you're young and you've decided this is your love of your life, where you really have a love for someone, you think or feel like you can save them," she told Deadline. 

Kelly is in a real-life relationship with someone she met as an adult. That someone is Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds, the singer behind mega-hits like "Radioactive" and "Believer." He has four kids from a previous marriage, but after that relationship fell apart, the singer and LGBTQ+ activist was introduced to the "The Roommate" star virtually through a mutual friend. Like something romantic out of the Hallmark movies that Minka Kelly starred in, they swapped art long-distance; he sent her songs he was working on, and she sent him passages from the memoir she was writing. He told People, "After about a month, we met in person, and ever since then, we've been attached at the hip. Minka and I are in a really happy, healthy relationship."

As "Ransom Canyon" opens, Staten Kirkland (Josh Duhamel) has suffered a terrible loss. Whereas he was once married with a child, his wife died recently, and his son is still reeling with grief. The fact that he's newly single means Staten is looking for comfort, and he once again considers Quinn, a love from his youth. Duhamel told Deadline that he's aware the show is your typical will-they, won't-they, but he said it all comes down to the execution. He credits his co-star with making it work, explaining, "[Minka]'s so good in the show. And I love how real she played it. She made it tough for Staten, and I love that because he deserved it. He's a stubborn dude who doesn't properly express things he wants to say or do, and I think that she's not afraid to call him on it."

In 2022, three years after Duhamel's divorce from Black Eyed Peas singer Fergie, Duhamel married Audra Mari, a model and beauty pageant winner. She was actually supposed to appear alongside her husband in "Ransom Canyon," but her cameo wound up being cut from the final version of the show. "She was [Davis Collins'] girlfriend [that] he brought to the party, but they cut her out! Poor thing," Duhamel told People. They have a son who was only two weeks old when the family moved to New Mexico so Duhamel could film. "This team and family that Josh picked up along the way while filming this beautiful show made it that much easier," Mari wrote on Instagram. "you'll always have a special place in my heart RC as I became a brand new mama watching you become a cowboy."

Irish actor Eoin Macken stars on "Ransom Canyon" as Davis Collins, the third member of the Quinn/Staten love triangle. He's also a rancher, and he's the brother of Staten's late wife, meaning their families are forever intertwined even as they compete over the same love interest. Like Duhamel, Macken credits his co-star with making the show's love story believable. "It's very easy because Minka Kelly is incredibly charming," he told TV Fanatic. "She is as lovely, captivating, and beautiful as she seems on screen. She's just a wonderful person." He also had some warm words for his rival, gushing, "Josh Duhamel is among the nicest, kindest, funniest people you'll meet. He is. He's a proper man's man."

In real life, Macken is in a relationship with an Italian actor named Emanuela Postacchini. She's best known for her roles in films like "Riff Raff" and on Sacha Baron Cohen's show "Who Is America?" The two have a daughter together, and Postacchini frequently shouts out her boyfriend on social media. For example, in 2024, she shared a series of photos of herself and Macken near-smooching on Instagram. In the caption, she wrote simply, "When you know, you know. I love you @eoincmacken."

While "Ransom Canyon" is primarily about the love lives of the people of Staten and Quinn's generation, the show also follows characters a generation younger than them. That includes Lizzy Greene's character Lauren Brigman. She's the daughter of the sheriff (Philip Winchester), and she's both the head cheerleader and girlfriend of Davis Collins' son, Reid (Andrew Liner), who's the quarterback on the football team.

She's got a love triangle of her own, too, thanks to a budding romance with a bad boy named Lucas (Garrett Wareing). "The introduction of Lucas opens up an opportunity for her to choose something that feels right for her," Greene reflected to Haute Living. "I think both boys bring out something in her, whether it's working hard or chasing her dreams. I trust her judgement on who she believes is the best fit for her — so you will have to wait and see!"

In 2025, Greene opened up on social media about her own off-screen relationship. Though she hasn't defined it online, exactly, based on her Instagram posts Greene sure seems to be in a relationship with actor and dancer Sean Lew, with whom she starred on Nickelodeon's "Ricky, Nicky, Dicky, and Dawn." She's posted numerous loved-up snapshots of the two together, posing like it's prom in a couple's costume and kissing each other on the beach. She captioned the latter, "pookie smookie bookie with a cherry on top, our 11 year old selves wouldnt believe us now. happy birthday bay."

Okay, we spoke too soon — "Ransom Canyon" doesn't just follow the love stories of the Quinn/Staten/Davis generation and the kids below them. There are older folks on this show, too, including James Brolin's character, Cap Fuller. He owns Fuller Ranch, the third competing business vying for control of the Texas lands where the story is set. Brolin is an entertainment industry veteran who's been around for decades, famous from films like "The Amityville Horror" and "Westworld." "Ransom Canyon" creator April Blair told Tudum that Brolin infused Cap with his own personality, saying, "It's really who he is. He's so funny. Such a character. And so many stories! He's an iconic actor, and he brings equal parts gravitas and humor to that part."

Off-screen, Brolin has been in a relationship for decades with a fellow iconic actor: Barbra Streisand. Brolin and Streisand's relationship began when they were set up on a blind date, after both had been married before. The "Hello, Dolly!" star told W Magazine that she'd been misled about the actor's rugged looks, recalling, "I met him at a dinner and expected a bearded mountain-man type, and he had cut off all his hair and was clean-shaven. I asked him, 'Who screwed up your hair?' He later told me that's when he fell in love with me. My fella likes to hear the truth."

"Ransom Canyon" is a romance, but it's also a Western, which means the interests of the land-loving ranchers must necessarily come into contact with the civilizing force of the law. That's the job of Sheriff Dan Brigman, Philip Winchester's character on the show, who frequently frustrates the other characters as they try to take their scheming to new levels. "Dan is a lawman. He's driven by principles of justice. It's what his whole life is built on," creator April Blair told Entertainment Weekly. That even means sometimes bringing the full force of the law down on family members, in some of the most shocking twists and turns on the show.

In real life, Winchester seems to be a loyal family man. He's married to Megan Coughlin, his high school sweetheart, and he keeps his wife in mind even when he's on set, supposedly in love with someone else. When he starred on a show called Strike Back, he told Examiner that he was glad his character didn't have sex scenes that required him to go past his comfort zone. "I'm married in real life, so I appreciate that that's not written in there because I'm not a huge fan of doing that stuff," he said.

He and Coughlin have two kids together, as he revealed on Instagram (via People). In a since-deleted snap of his family cuddled up together, Winchester wrote, "Momma bear. Sister bear. And little bear. #thenextadventure."

On "Ransom Canyon," Marianly Tejada plays Ellie Estevez. She works on Fuller Ranch, helping care for Cap (James Brolin). She's also great friends with Quinn (Minka Kelly), and like just about everyone else on this show, she's got romantic troubles of her own. Tejada told Numero Netherlands that she was drawn to her character's backstory, recalling that the script she saw for her audition told her everything she needed to know about who Ellie would be. "I connected with her heart, understood how she saw the world, and what drove her. She has no time for games when it comes to relationships and feelings because she's known what true loss is," she said. "Learning that for me was it."

Tejada, who broke out on "One Of Us Is Lying," keeps her off-screen relationship pretty private. Still, she told the magazine that her family is the most important part of her life. "Nothing inspires me more than being a wife and a mom, and growing my relationship with God," she said. Tejada is married to MLB agent Steve Bean, a man who proudly shows her off on his Instagram every chance he gets. In 2024, for example, he posted a series of photos to Instagram depicting himself and his wife loved up in a pool, posing in a bathroom, and playing around with their son on a playground. In the caption, he wrote simply, "Blessed."

On "Ransom Canyon," Quinn is pretty settled in her Texas town, but she also has one eye on an exit. She's a musician, and she's always wanted to play professionally; when the opportunity knocks and her old mentor Katherine Bullock shows up in town with a suggestion, everything Quinn's built up for herself comes into question. Katherine is played by veteran TV actor Kate Burton, best known for her role on "Scandal," where she played Vice President Sally Langston, and her part on "Grey's Anatomy," which sent fans into a frenzy when she returned unexpectedly.

Burton is only in a few episodes of "Ransom Canyon," and she doesn't get a romance of her own on the show, but fans may still be curious about her real-life partner. His name is Michael Ritchie, and like his wife, he's made a career out of theater. He doesn't act, however, preferring to work behind the scenes as a producer and director. They've been together since the early 1980s, when Burton was still a student at Yale.

The actor told LA Weekly that they focus on making sure their family life is stable, because entertainment can be a tricky business. "I think that the way you can organize your life at home means there's something you can control," she mused. Her husband added, "Work is always in movement. I can put some order at home that makes sense to me."

Like "Yellowstone," "Ransom Canyon" doesn't just tell the stories of the white ranchers vying for control of the West. The show also dives into how modern American society affects the lives of the Native American people who still live in the area. That includes Jake Longbow, who works on the Double K Ranch alongside Staten. He's played by Native actor Tatanka Means, best known for starring in "Killers of the Flower Moon." When Means wrapped filming on "Ransom Canyon," he wrote on Facebook, "So grateful for my time on this show and all of the amazing people I was blessed to meet and work with. Definitely felt the love and good energy everyday on set."

Means seems to have a lot of love and good energy off set, too, thanks to his marriage to his wife, Christine. She's quite the supportive spouse, tagging along with her husband to movie premieres and then bragging about her talented partner on social media; she even describes herself as a "hype man" in her Instagram bio. In 2023, she shared an anniversary post, revealing that she and Tatanka had been together a long time. "From young babes to having little babes to being old babes," she wrote. "To google searches bc the kids ask us questions and we have no idea the answer. To sunset travels. It's all the little things and time spent enjoying life together."

"Ransom Canyon" is about generational control of the land, so it makes sense that Staten Kirkland's father is a character on the show, too. Like "Yellowstone," the show grapples with the power that ranchers have in politics. In this case, Staten's dad Sam left him the ranch so he could go run for office, and he's now got even more power. He's now Senator Sam Kirkland, and he's willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his political goals. Senator Kirkland is played by Brett Cullen, who was part of the cast of "Make It Or Break It."

One of Senator Kirkland's defining features is that he's been married several times, which is quite the departure for the actor who plays him. In real life, Cullen has been in a long-term relationship with actor Michele Little, having been coupled up for several decades. All the way back in 1988, Cullen — then known for his role on "Falcon Crest" — gave a peek at their relationship to Soap Opera Digest. "We've been together for about three and a half years, so that's a really solid relationship," he said then. They've been together ever since, and they have a daughter named Harper, who also acts. Like Cullen's character on "Ransom Canyon," it seems, they keep the family business going.