Minka Kelly Reveals Her Pitch to Get Boyfriend Dan Reynolds to Return in Ransom Canyon Season 2 (Exclusive)
Minka Kelly stars alongside Josh Duhamel in the Texas-set Netflix romance, which returned for season 2 on July 23
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NEED TO KNOW
- Minka Kelly’s boyfriend Dan Reynolds made a surprise appearance in season 1 of her Netflix series, Ransom Canyon
- The musician doesn’t return in season 2, but Kelly tells PEOPLE about the idea she had to possibly bring Reynolds back
- Kelly has been dating Reynolds, who she previously told PEOPLE is “easy to love,” since 2022
Dan Reynolds almost made his way back to Ransom Canyon for season 2.
The Imagine Dragons frontman made a surprise appearance in season 1 of the Netflix series as cattle buyer Billy Brinks, and star Minka Kelly tells PEOPLE she tried to get her boyfriend back onscreen in the latest installment, which premiered on Thursday, July 23.
“We tried to find a way to bring Billy Brinks back,” Kelly, 46, says. “I was like, ‘Maybe the triangle is with Billy Brinks.’ ”
In season 2, her character, Quinn, returns to the small Texas town after six months in New York City and finds her longtime love, Staten (Josh Duhamel), has transformed during her time away, which makes the arrival of her East Coast boyfriend, Oliver (Ben Robson), very complicated.
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“Sadly, he was unavailable,” she says of Reynolds, 39. “He’s a little busy.”
When season 1 premiered last year, the Friday Night Lights alum told PEOPLE that her boyfriend visited the show’s set and “everyone, all the producers and writers, just naturally fell in love with him, like you do.”
“It’s easy to love Dan,” she said of the musician, whom she’s been dating since 2022.
“They just asked one day, ‘Do you think he’d play this character?’ And I just was like, ‘Let me ask him,’” she said. “And he was such a good sport and down to play.”
Reynolds was “surprisingly nervous” for the scene, though. “I’m like, how could you be nervous? With what you do? I guess it’s just a different environment.”
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In season 2, the love triangle Quinn finds herself in with Oliver and Staten “wasn’t meant to be a triangle,” Kelly says.
“She really wanted to move on. She was very frustrated at the end of season 1, and so she went to New York to fulfill her purpose and her dream to play with the New York Phil[harmonic], and she’s living in New York and having a good time. She meets someone else and it’s easy to romanticize this new shiny thing,” she says of the six-month time-jump before season 2.
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“She goes home and is, to her surprise, faced with this very new, charming, funny, silly version of Staten, who’s telling her everything she’s ever wanted to hear from him, and it’s just a little too late.”
“It just goes to show it takes a long time to learn how to figure that sort of thing out,” she adds of the complicated spot Quinn finds herself in. “It’s something we can all relate to. Relationships are hard, and big decisions are hard to make when you want to do the right thing.”
Ransom Canyon season 2 is now streaming on Netflix.
