Denim Richards: ‘It’s a Blessing’ Becoming ‘Yellowstone’ Series Regular (Exclusive)

The Kevin Costner-led Paramount Network show Yellowstone returned for a third season on June 21, marking another season of drama surrounding the Dutton family. This third outing brought about considerable changes, including actor Denim Richards becoming a series regular. The man who portrays Colby reflected on this change and said that it’s a blessing.

Speaking with PopCulture.com in an exclusive interview, Richards explained that there is no other show he would want to be a regular on. He started Season 3 as more of a background character alongside Ian Bohen, Jake Ream and the other ranch hands on the show. His role expanded further in the second season as the bunkhouse became more prominent, and he became a series regular for the third season. Now his spot is secure on the show, and Richards is very grateful for the opportunity to keep stepping into Colby’s boots.

“It’s like as you’re doing this and as you’ve been able to be a part of this since the beginning, season one, episode one, you want to be a part of as much of the show is you can be,” Richards told PopCulture. “And so I think that we all feel like that in that way of it could be challenging work at times because there’s a lot of physicality. But I wouldn’t want to be on any other show. There’s not another show on television I would want to be a series regular on, so I just feel so grateful to be able to do it on this one because it really shows a testament to the journey as well, something really positive to be able to look at and look back on.”

Richards expressed excitement about becoming a regular, but that doesn’t mean that he feels any more secure in the role. Yellowstone has a reputation for killing off characters, whether they die in a meth lab explosion or “at the train station” near the Wyoming border. Richards doesn’t necessarily expect to see Colby die in the fourth season, but he still checks his script each week just to make sure.

“When a script comes, you still kind of like type your character’s name in and scroll down to their last line and be like, ‘OK, I made it. Alright,’” Richards said. “And now let’s go back and actually read the script and actually appreciate the script for what it is. But you know, I think that’s something that every actor maybe looks at. And maybe Kevin [Costner] probably doesn’t worry about that at all. … As I’m reading it, I’m like, ‘OK where’s the Colby part? Is Colby going to… Oh, he’s good. OK, cool. All he did was rope a horse. All right. He’s good. So he lived.’”

Only three episodes have aired as part of the weekly schedule, but Colby has avoided death. Richards said that he is all for danger as long as it doesn’t “flatline” his character. He wants to keep working with the other cast members, especially with some of the upcoming changes. Richards wouldn’t share any details about Colby’s ever-changing role on Yellowstone, only explaining that the character will be quite different from what he was in the first two seasons.

Yellowstone airs Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on the Paramount Network. A replay takes place immediately after at 10 p.m. ET. The first two seasons are available on NBC’s Peacock streaming service, which officially launches on July 15 — although Comcast and Xfinity customers have early access.