Kurt Russell is the perfect amount of “Hollywood cool” where he can look at a classic modern western like Tombstone and think, “Not as good as it could have been.” He’s obviously a perfect fit for seemingly any of Taylor Sheridan’s original series, but it was the no-longer-a-Yellowstone-spinoff The Madison that swayed him to signing on for his second series hitting the 2026 TV schedule. He’s still a series regular on Apple TV’s Monarch: Legacy of Monsters (though presumably not the spinoff on the way centered on his character).
So what was it that drew him in? I’m sure whatever the payday was didn’t hurt, but Russell shared a couple of other non-monetary reasons why signing on for The Madison was worth his time and attention. Speaking with TV Insider, he shared that he was already aware of Michelle Pfeiffer’s casting as he was reading through the scripts, so it was already an embedded bonus to reunite with his Tequila Sunrise co-star. But the value went even beyond his on-screen love interest. As he put it:
Taylor Sheridan’s a pretty great writer, this guy, so what was [there] not to want to do? It was just a scheduling thing that had to be worked out, so it did, and it worked out really good, actually.
To be expected, the writing and the characters were two of the biggest influences that convinced him to join the project. He didn't appear to rattle off how many of Sheridan's projects he's seen, but I can only imagine he made himself familiar with as much as he thought was necessary to get a feel for The Madison's tone and what its creator is trying to impart with the story.
Article continues belowBut even beyond that, Kurt Russell's involvement as family patriarch Preston Clyburn was inherently tied to timing, as the actor's schedule was so busy that he technically wasn't able to take part in the production for Season 1. As he told Entertainment Weekly, filming for Monarch's acclaimed Season 2 (currently streaming via Apple TV subscription) was already in play when the opportunity to join The Madison crossed his path. But not even Godzilla and King Kong combined could keep Sheridan from lassoing Russell in.
Rather than waiting until after the usual between-seasons break, Sheridan shifted the second season's filming forward to immediately follow the first's, which allowed the Escape from New York star to join the Montana-set series to film all of his scenes across both seasons as the rest of the cast and crew were plugging away on the second batch of episodes. As Russell put it:
Being able to do two seasons made it double the pleasure.
One can only hope it'll be as much of a pleasure for viewers as it was for him and Michelle Pfeiffer to work on together. Not to mention the rest of the stacked cast, which includes Patrick J. Adams, Mattew Fox, Elle Chapman, Amiah MIller, Beau Garrett, Kevin Zegers, Will Arnett and more.
Fans can find out what's awaiting us at The Madison when it hits the 2026 TV schedule on Saturday, March 14.
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