Yellowstone was 2018’s most-watched new cable series and season 2 isn’t slowing down on the drama whatsoever. Neal McDonough will be playing the role of wealthy casino owner Malcolm Beck in the highly-anticipated second season. After such a stellar season, Neal opened up to HollywoodLife EXCLUSIVELY at Paramount Press Day on May 30 about avoiding a sophomore slump in season 2. He also spilled some scoop about his character’s dynamic with Kelly Reilly’s Beth Dutton.
“You got to bring it! How do you not bring it if you have the words of Taylor Sheridan? And you are opposite of Cole [Hauser] or Kevin [Costner] or anyone else or Wes [Bentley] or anyone. You get to go toe-to-toe with phenomenal actors, with phenomenal words, in a cowboy hat! You almost can’t mess it up! But as an actor and the kind of actor I am, I like to go full bore on something. You know, Kelly and I were just talking about a scene we had that was this epic, mean, and nasty scene and we had never met each other before. During the scene, I stood back in the shadows between takes and I wouldn’t talk to her and she got it and understood what was going on. They would say ‘action’ and I would turn around and roll into her, but she was there giving it right back the same. And the great thing about Yellowstone is that it gives heavyweight and really great actors a chance to box and really spar with each other and really enjoy the moment! I was blessed beyond belief to be a part of Yellowstone this year.”
Yellowstone co-creator and writer-director Taylor Sheridan has been at the helm of the show since day one. Neal loved the amount of passion that Taylor brings to what he writes this season and Neal couldn’t say enough good things about working with Taylor.
“He really let me loose this year,” Neal said. “I am so looking forward to my last episode that we are about to film and how epic it is going to be for my ending. I thanked Taylor, bless his soul, for giving me this opportunity to really dig into a character and find the nastiness and the goodness and the code of ethics that my character has and it’s been really fantastic!” Yellowstone airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on Paramount Network.