Yellowstone‘s spinoff Dutton Ranch is not holding back when it comes to shocking character deaths.

Menchaca poked fun at his bad luck on screen.

“My wife [Lena Headey] made a death reel for me for my birthday this last year. It was about 10 minutes and it didn’t even have all my deaths,” he quipped. “So I was a little bit [worried].”

He continued: “I was like, ‘They may take me out so I better get on everybody’s good side.’ Hopefully it won’t happen but the way things are now, you get these scripts just a little bit before. Then you start going through and you’re like, ‘Is it gonna happen next scene?’ Thankfully it has not [yet].”

Yellowstone initially introduced viewers to the Dutton family in 2018. The Paramount Network show came to an end in 2024, expanding its universe with Luke Grimes’ CBS show Marshals and Dutton Ranch, which premiered in May.

Dutton Ranch has introduced some new characters played by Annette Bening and Ed Harris. Other newcomers include Jai Courtney, Natalie Alyn Lind, Juan Pablo Raba, J. R. Villarreal — and Menchaca’s Zachariah.

“He was a cowboy that they trashed around and he’d go work on ranches here and there. He was just one of those guys who rodeo and work to get by. That’s the part of the cowboy life that’s the whole core,” he noted. “It’s incredibly exciting because you never know what’s going to happen — either on the back of a bucking horse or if you’re out roping. There’s an element of surprise always around.”

Menchaca built out the idea from there, saying, “He was addicted to that cowboy life, and then once I found out about what did end up happening that sent him to prison, that kind of brought everything together.”

Filming Dutton Ranch allowed Menchaca to connect with his roots.

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“I grew up that life. I just took from ranchers that I worked for,” he shared. “I wanted to be a team roper when I was a kid and it brought my childhood back to me.”

Looking ahead, Menchaca teased what is yet to come, adding, “Obviously there’s going to be tension. It definitely creates tension and we will find out that there are some things about the 10 Petal that are unbecoming of a country boy.”

Dutton Ranch airs Fridays on Paramount+.

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