Netflix is quietly building its library of Westerns, and while some, like The Abandons, were a huge misfire, every year brings an engaging story of the West. The streamer has been leaning toward gritty dramas like American Primeval and Godless, but the success of Little House on the Prairie could chart a recent path for cozy westerns. Rebecca Sonneshine‘s adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder‘s book of the same name had a great critical reception, and it seems to be holding sturdy on streaming, ranked fifth by FlixPatrol globally at the time of writing. Netflix has also tested the neo-western waters with a 2025 series that turned out to be a hit, and Season 2 returns this week.
Set in Texas, the series follows characters in a ranching town as they navigate legacy and love. Like many neo-westerns, it features all the classic tropes, including rivalries, messy romances, and double-crossing. Oh, and there are horses. These qualities were received differently, with critics being unimpressed and calling it a “serviceable binge.” The first season has a 45% critics’ score on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Fans, on the other hand, remained largely impressed, giving the season a 72% score on the same site.
The show, titled Ransom Canyon, is set to take viewers back to the attractive titular town with its equally attractive people. Josh Duhamel and Minka Kelly are back as Staten Kirkland and Quinn O’Grady, respectively, the two love interests at the center of the story. For various reasons, Staten and Quinn have never worked out romantically, and Season 1 delivers them another blow when Quinn gets a scarce opportunity to play music in New York. In Season 2, premiering this Thursday, July 23, it’s more of the same but with some recent energy.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor Sheridan Show Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has spotless hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
08
Someone recent arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
10
When it’s over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the contemporary world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are gaunt, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: pointed, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re astute enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
What to Expect in ‘Ransom Canyon’ Season 2
To keep things in the town of Ransom Canyon, the recent season features a six-month time jump. Quinn and Staten have been doing their own thing, with the former living her best life in New York while the latter has been trying to maintain control of his family’s ranch. Quinn has moved on, having found a recent boyfriend (played by Ben Robson). But as they say, home is where the heart is. New York is fun and fast-paced, but Ransom Canyon has its charms. Meanwhile, Staten is also dealing with a conundrum of his own. For the longest time, he’s prioritized family legacy, but what if it’s time to choose love?
Watch what they decide when all eight (down from 10 last season) of Ransom Canyon Season 2 stream on Netflix on Thursday, July 23. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.
