Friday Night Lights Minka Kelly Returns to Texas with 'Ransom Canyon'

"Ranch life is really cozy and comfortable...we all want to dress like that while also being accidentally sexy."

"It feels like Yellowstone and Friday Night Lights had a baby." For Minka Kelly, whose career skyrocketed on the latter Texas-set drama, joining Netflix's similarly situated Ransom Canyon brought back some "nostalgia." Kelly plays Quinn O'Grady, a woman who returns to the small Texas town after a stint in New York City and rekindles a romance with Staten Kirkland (played by Josh Duhamel). "What excited me about everyone [in the cast] was just how talented they were, along with how beautiful they all are. There just isn't a weak link." Kelly says Ransom Canyon is both "relatable" and "really different, its own thing...the quintessential American experience, and how the town comes together, and the family values and the family dynamics and the family dramas." Ransom Canyon just adds to the career highs Kelly has been experiencing as of late. She not only appeared on HBO's Euphoria but also released her New York Times best-selling memoir Tell Me Everything. "That book truly changed my whole life. It changed how I perceived myself."

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Editor's Note: This conversation has been edited and condensed for publication.

When you first heard about Ransom Canyon, and you heard it was this family drama that is also a romance and a Western, what went through your head?

I got really excited. It feels like another one of those feel-good shows that the whole family can watch together and, and it's so funny to watch it now, because it feels like Yellowstone and Friday Night Lights had a baby. There's a little bit of even nostalgia for me with it. And the backdrop being on a ranch and the horses is just heaven for me. So I was really excited about it. There are Western shows out there, but none quite like this. I feel like this is really different. It's its own thing.

Because of your time on Friday Night Lights, people are going to be excited about your return to the Lone Star state. What is it about Texas that makes this story so appealing?

Good question. I wonder if it's just because it's just so American. It's just the quintessential American experience, and how the town comes together for this thing, and the family values, and the family dynamics, and the family dramas, and it's all just really relatable. I think that that might have something to do with it. This show is shot so beautifully, and I think the tone of it, set by Amanda Marsalis [director], is just so gorgeous and just adds to all the eye candy of it all.

Your character, Quinn, is new to the town, and in many ways is sort of the audience experiencing Texas and this town for the first time. What about her really spoke to you?

Well, the interesting part that I really related to was I sort of was an outsider coming back to Albuquerque, which is where we shot it. And so, I did relate to that coming homeness and feeling out of place. I really fell in love with Quinn just because of how warm and nurturing she is and how she takes care of everyone around her. She's coming into her own power, and learning how to use her voice and to advocate for herself and to find the courage and the strength to actually go, "You know what? No, that didn't feel good." And coming out of maybe being a people pleaser, which I can definitely relate to. There was a lot to her that I really related to.

There really is this wonderful mix of drama and family, but also steamy and romantic. What about the mix of those themes makes it exciting for you as an actor?

Just relatable. It's really sexy. Then there's the fantasy of the romance of it, and then there's the push and pull of this dynamic between Quinn and Staten [played by Josh Duhamel] that I can definitely relate to. I've been in those relationships where it's like, "Come here. No, go away." And you're just like, "Come on or get off the pot." I know a lot of girls and myself have experienced that dynamic too many times, you know? And there's the forbidden fruit of it all, with some of the romances, and then there's the danger of it, all the mystery of who these people are that are showing up. And I think that that makes it really fun and keeps you on the edge of your seat, because you're finding out who some of these people are and "Is she gonna go for him?" It's just candy for all the senses.

You've done all kinds of roles, and this role is definitely beautiful, but there's a coziness to it that feels more relaxed. Very much less glamorous, more focused on jeans and boots. Did that appeal to you?

Yes, and that was really intentional. It was just, as far as myself and the wardrobe of it all, I wanted it to be comfortable, because this girl isn't really focused on being glamorous or being beautiful. She's just accidentally in this gorgeous silk dress. [laughs] But maybe I got a little too comfortable. Sometimes I would hide myself a little bit because I just have that habit. Ranch life is really cozy and comfortable and not too stuffy, again, it's really relatable. You know, I think we all want to dress like that and be comfortable all the time while being also accidentally sexy. [laughs]

This really is an ensemble show. What about the other actors excited you?

Honestly, what excited me about everyone was just how talented they were, along with how beautiful they all are. There just isn't a weak link in the cast, and I just fell in love with everybody. Because when you get that many pretty people together, you are gonna maybe have some conflict somewhere, or some competition between each other, and there's just none of that with everyone. It really is one of the best casts I've been a part of, because everyone is just so excited to be there and so excited to do their jobs every day and love the work. It was just a great environment to be in, and I feel like that might have come out in the show, with everyone's performance, everyone felt so safe and so supported because April Blair [creator], who started it all, she set up such a safe environment for everyone. Everyone's voice is heard, everyone is taken care of, everyone needs to feel safe and supported and to be able to do their best. The stars really aligned on this one, because there's just not a bad egg in the group. And we talk about it constantly. We just are so in love with each other.

This show comes at an interesting point in your career, because you've done a lot, which means fans will come to this show from lots of different points in your career. How does it feel to be at this place in your career where people come to the things you do because they have this long-established relationship with you?

I don't think I really ever thought about it like that. I guess that feels nice. I tend to be pretty hard on myself, too. I feel like I'm only just beginning. I feel like this will be the first time everyone gets to know me, or gets to see me. I think this really might even be the first time you see me as a woman, as opposed to this young girl that everyone has this idea of, where they first saw me in Friday Night Lights. I think I'm so different now, and so it feels like a new beginning for me. So I'm hoping [they tune in], just because everyone needs an escape right now and to feel good and to just look at something beautiful and get lost in the romance of some complex and dynamic circumstances between some really beautiful people and really great writing.

I have to ask you about your time on Euphoria. How did it feel to be part of a show that personifies so much of our cultural conversation right now?

To be invited to be a part of Euphoria was very exciting, because I was such a huge fan of it already. I couldn't believe when I got the email that I was being invited to be a part of the show, and it wasn't even supposed to be what it was. It was supposed to be even smaller of a cameo. But Sam [Levinson, creator] liked watching the dynamic between myself and Maddy [played by Alexa Demie]. It was also really spontaneous and it was also fun to see this sort of mad scientist, or just this brilliant genius who puts this beautiful show together in the way that he does it. And I just felt really lucky and in awe of it all. I just had to also remember, I'm here to work. Don't just be a fan. [laughs]

Your memoir, Tell Me Everything, was a massive success and had an impact on so many people. How do you feel that book changed how people perceive you?

That book truly changed my whole life. It changed how I perceived myself. I was, of course, so surprised at the success. I was so scared of releasing it, because it is so vulnerable and some of my most humiliating moments are in it. I did that just because of all of the writers that I researched that gave any advice anywhere, be it articles, interviews or a master class, the thing they always would say is, "Just to tell the truth, the ugliest truths, because that's what we relate to." And so it changed my life in the sense that it released a lot of weight that I didn't even realize I was carrying. When it comes to shame or being embarrassed of where you came from for whatever reasons, and the things that you've experienced thinking it made you bad or unlovable in some way, and then to expose all that, and then to be met with such empathy and such love and connection where people are going, "I had that. Oh, my God, I can relate to that." Or, "Wow, that made me feel seen." Or, "It just gave me permission to go, you're okay, and to love myself and really understand what that means." To love yourself and to give permission to have the real conversations, the honest conversations. Yeah, it changed my life. And work did become different. My whole life became different. I met my partner. He was the first one to read it, before it was even a book, and I was so scared giving it to him, because I'm like, "Well, here we go. You'll either be scared away, or you'll have love for this girl." And it just made us really close really fast, because here's this handbook. I wish we all came with a handbook. It's like, "Here's all my stuff. Love it or hate it." And luckily, it just brought me closer to all of the things that were most important.