Jack Schumacher plays Yancy Grey in Netflix’s Ransom Canyon. All episodes of the first season are now streaming, and this conversation will contain major spoilers.
Welcome to Ransom Canyon, where love, loss, and loyalty collide beneath the crimson mesas of Texas Hill Country. With three ranching family dynasties locked in a contest for control of the land, their lives and legacies are threatened by outside forces intent on destroying their way of life. At the center of it all is stoic rancher Staten Kirkland, who is healing from heartbreaking loss and on a quest for vengeance. Staten’s only glimmer of hope rests in the eyes and heart of Quinn O’Grady, longtime family friend and owner of the local dancehall. But as the battle to save Ransom wages on, a mysterious cowboy drifts into town, dredging up secrets from the past. Vise tightening, Staten fights to protect the land he calls home, and the only love that can pull him back from the demons that haunt him.
“Well, I think the credit for the change in the character is ultimately at the core of what he wants, you know, is a place to call home, a community, and a family, because that’s what he’s been missing his entire life,” he explained of Yancy’s evolution. “Getting to play that whole arc, I’m so grateful for the writing and April Blair, our showrunner, because she shared with me everything that I was, you know, kind of what was going to happen. So I knew the really important stuff, and it’s just exciting. As an actor, for a six-month shoot to get to work and as the show goes on, you learn more about the character and you get more comfortable in it, and the relationships, obviously, I think build between your fellow actor and I think that that shows up on screen. So it was the longest that I’ve gotten to stay with a certain character so far in my career, and it’s just been such a joy to do. I’m hopeful for many more seasons to kind of see what else can develop in his world and in the things he’s going for.”
“I think, obviously, this is a pretty big hole for Yancy to dig himself out of,” Schumacher commented regarding the revelation that his character actually has a wife despite asking Ellie to marry him. “I think that they can come back. It’s obviously gonna take a lot of work, and for a guy who was constantly telling her like, ‘You know everything, now you know everything,’ and then, to have this one come in at the last second, yeah, that’s gonna take some work. I can’t give too much away about what we’re thinking for season two, but I did know going in [about] that — I knew from right before I even got the part.”
I spoke with the actor about his character’s arc, that huge finale cliffhanger, the value of a show having three different generations of love stories, the importance of the rodeo episode, Yancy and Ellie’s most significant relationship moments, the loss of Cap, and more.
Watch my interview below:
