“Yellowstone”’s Finn Little Didn’t Know He Was Cast in “Dutton Ranch” Spinoff Until ‘a Week Before’ Filming (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• In Dutton Ranch, Finn Little reprises his Yellowstone character, Carter, the adoptive son of Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser)

• The Australian actor tells PEOPLE about returning for the spinoff, the short notice he got about his role and reveals why Yellowstone fans will love this new chapter

• The first two episodes of Dutton Ranch are now streaming on Paramount+

Finn Little returns as Beth and Rip’s son, Carter, in the new Yellowstone spinoff series, Dutton Ranch, but he didn’t exactly get much warning about the new show.

The Australian actor was cast as Carter, who becomes the adoptive son of Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser), in Yellowstone when he was 14. Now 19, he tells PEOPLE that the show and the character “has been my life” in recent memory.

“Yellowstone has been a huge part of my life. It’s awesome,” he says.

When the original series ended in 2024, Little says there was talk about a possible spinoff for Beth and Rip, but nothing was set in stone. “I didn’t hear anything about it until like a week before I flew out [to film],” he reveals.

Natalie Alyn Lind as Oreana and Finn Little as Carter in ‘Dutton Ranch’
Credit: Lauren Smith/Paramount+

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“Yeah, it was just like, ‘Hey, it’s happening, hope you’re ready.’ I was like, ‘Oh, all right. Let’s go,'” he recalls.

“I was excited,” Little says of the chance to return to his character. “I wanted to see more from Carter. I wanted to keep playing the character, for sure.”

Beth, Rip and Carter start a new life in Texas in Dutton Ranch, and Little says, “A lot has changed [for Carter] since we last saw him.”

In the spinoff, he’s “growing into himself,” but “trouble’s brewing,” particularly when he meets Oreana (Natalie Alyn Lind). “I think Carter sees a lot of Beth in Oreana, that fierceness and that strong personality. I think that’s what attracts Carter,” Little says.

Finn Little as Carter in ‘Yellowstone’
Credit: Paramount

It’s Beth and Rip that will make fans of Yellowstone love the new spinoff, he promises. “Beth and Rip are a staple of Yellowstone. They’re some of people’s favorite characters. So if you love Beth and Rip, you’ll love Dutton Ranch, and you’ll love all the new problems that come along with it,” Little tells PEOPLE at the New York City premiere on May 12.

Dutton Ranch “feels like Yellowstone,” he says. “It’s never an easy life for the Duttons.”

The first two episodes of Dutton Ranch are now streaming on Paramount+. New episodes drop Fridays.

Read the original article on People