Hart Denton Never Wanted to Leave <i><em>Dutton Ranch</em></i>

Folks in Little Rock, Arkansas didn’t exactly jibe with Hart Denton’s early roles on 13 Reasons Why or Riverdale. You can’t blame ’em—that’s teen stuff. But after appearing as 10 Petal ranch foreman Chet in the Yellowstone spin-off Dutton Ranch, which recently became the most watched original series debut in Paramount+ history? Denton finally earned his stripes as a hometown hero.

“Taylor Sheridan brought this cowboy thing back,” the 32-year-old actor tells me over Zoom. “The people of Arkansas have reached out to me in a way that I’ve never heard from them before, because it’s like they’re finally proud of me. Even my grandma watches. She’s obsessed with it. She’ll call me and ask me questions. I’m like, ‘Grandma, I can’t tell you these things. And if I knew, I still couldn’t tell you.’ ”

Denton had good reason to hide his character’s story arc from his grandma this week, because Chet meets his untimely end in episode 6, titled “A Cowboy Saint.” The series so far, which follows Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and her husband Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) on a new adventure in Texas following the Yellowstone finale, began with the couple finding a dead body on their property. Chet witnessed the murder firsthand. So after the wayward cowboy is fired from the 10 Petal Ranch and thrown to the curb in episode 5, he returns—gun in hand—and attempts to blackmail the family.

“Chet is our character with nine lives,” Denton tells Esquire. “This is his family, and he’ll do whatever he can to survive.”

Sadly, Chet ends the confrontation with a bullet in his head, before audiences can learn more about his involvement in the 10 Petal’s nefarious activities. He’s a tragic character who felt doomed from his very first second on the screen—and according to Denton, that was all part of Dutton Ranch’s design.

“Chet is our character with nine lives,” Denton says. “He has almost died many times before we start this show. This is his family, and he’ll do whatever he can to survive. But I almost look at it like, I don’t see how he doesn’t go out in some sort of way like that. It’s just so heartbreaking, because he’s not doing it for himself.”

Below, Denton shares more about attending Taylor Sheridan’s famous cowboy camp, filming his character’s final scene, and his plans to potentially join another Sheridan series in the future.

Dutton Ranch had the best original series debut in Paramount+ history. “Taylor Sheridan’s brought this cowboy thing back,” Denton says.

ESQUIRE: It’s a shame they couldn’t name you Hart Dutton in the series. It’s so close.

HART DENTON: You know, you’re one of the first outside of the show to say it. While we were filming, a lot of the other actors would be like, it’s “Denton Ranch.” But it’s funny how close it is.

Is it true that the first time you were on TV was just mere hours after you were born?

Yeah, it was so random. I was born on Father’s Day, and the news station in Little Rock just happened to be doing a special about babies. I’m hours old and there’s a camera crew there. It’s so funny. My mom always wanted me to be on TV and in movies. She put me in theater and she was obsessed with Elvis. There was Elvis decor everywhere all over my baby room—dolls, pictures, records. They had a mural painted. Then, a few years later, the news did a special on kids’ first day of kindergarten. They knocked on our door and featured me. It’s almost like I grew up in this weird Truman Show type of way where I felt like there was always cameras on me.

We don’t get much of Chet’s backstory when Dutton Ranch begins, but did you come up with a whole life for Chet when you were going out for the part?

I grew up around ranchers, and my sisters rode horses competitively, like hardcore. So we were at the barn five days a week, and I just felt like I knew who this guy was. When I got to Texas, I met with [former showrunner] Chad Feehan and we talked about his backstory—where he comes from, leaving home when he was really young, and joining up with this ranch that becomes his family.

But what was even more helpful than that was when we did a month of cowboy camp. We’re out on these trail rides with the cowboys and one of them told me that he left home when he was 12 years old and joined a ranch. All I was telling myself was just to be a sponge and absorb everything that this guy is telling me about the kind of life that he’s had. I feel like that process centered me so much.

What kind of special-effects prep went into Chet’s death scene?

I had to do a full head cast where they put the goo all over you and then seal it off. It’s a 45-minute process. You’ve got these little tiny holes to breathe through, but you can’t see anything. It’s completely black. But our head of makeup is just the most incredible guy. He did Heath Ledger’s makeup for The Dark Knight. I’m obsessed with that movie. So every day I was just asking about it. Because I was really scared, actually, of the scene. I was very freaked out, like, Oh, this is going to be gnarly.

It’s a shame we didn’t get more of Chet.

Yeah, several people had called and mentioned that they did not want me to go. But this has been the best job of my life. I would’ve done a hundred seasons of this show. But I am forever grateful. It has done so much for me already, and I can’t wait to do another show in this space soon, hopefully.

“I grew up around ranchers, and my sisters rode horses competitively, like hardcore,” Denton tells Esquire. “I just felt like I knew who this guy was.”

Was there anything that you and the cowboys did that was super difficult but they made it look easy on TV?

Every single thing that those guys do, they make it look effortless. It’s so hard to rope a cattle. There was a guy from the Four Sixes who was out there with us who brought his kids, like four or five years old, and they would get on the horse and rope. I was just so blown away. But what’s so cool about a Taylor Sheridan show, especially this one, is that the cowboys are the toughest guys I’ve ever met in my life.

One of the cowboys showed up one day and he’s doing a stunt where he keeps falling, and I notice that he’s grimacing a little bit each time he gets up. I walked over to him and I could see him open up his shirt and adjust some bandages around his chest. I was like, “What’s going on? Are you all right?” He says, “Yes, sir. I’m good.” Later on, another one of the cowboys tells me that a horse stepped on him and broke his ribs yesterday. These guys … they’re just cut different.

I know Taylor Sheridan is loyal to his people, and this is obviously the end of Chet on Dutton Ranch, but is there anything you’re working on with him next?

I’ve talked to some people, but we’ll see. Right now, the Paramount to NBC thing is happening, so that’s all being figured out. But yes, I would say there is more to come.

Story by Josh Rosenberg

Photographs by Nick Rasmussen

Styling by Paris Libby

Grooming by Rachel Burney