Minka Kelly Makes Rare Comment About ‘Fighting’ for Equal Pay on ‘Ransom Canyon’ With Josh Duhamel

Minka Kelly fought to have her Ransom Canyon paycheck match that of her male costar, Josh Duhamel.

After the show premiered on Thursday, April 17, Deadline reported that Kelly, 44, asked for her salary to match Duhamel, 52, after she was offered the role of Quinn. The network allegedly did not end up matching their salaries exactly, but Kelly’s pay was reportedly increased significantly to lessen the gap.

“[I] didn’t have to fight very hard,” Kelly told Deadline about the right to close the gap between her and Duhamel’s pay. “They sort of made that easy.”

Kelly expressed gratitude to Netflix, adding, “I think that’s probably one of the best things about working with Netflix, is that they’re very pro that. I feel really lucky to get to work with the company that does care about that.”

Ransom Canyon is based on Jodi Thomas‘ book series about a town that is full of drama, romance and hope in Texas Hill Country. In addition to Kelly and Duhamel, the hit series stars Eoin Macken, Lizzy Greene, Garrett Wareing, Marianly Tejada, Jack Schumacher, Andrew Liner and James Brolin.

While Netflix has yet to renew Ransom Canyon, there’s already a writers room working on season 2 scripts.

“We’ve already started the writers’ room, even though the show hasn’t been picked up to series yet for season 2,” creator April Blair told TV Insider on Saturday, April 19, about their plans for the future. “Quinn’s going to go off to New York and come back. How is [Staten] going to win her back if he’s still haunted? I don’t feel like he could ever truly move on in his heart and his mind until that mystery [about his son’s death] was settled.”

Blair hinted at a time jump after the shocking season 1 finale. “We would need to because I don’t want to do anything in New York,” she noted. “Quinn needs to go away and save her ranch, and we need to see what the implications are for that punch that Davis goads Staten into doing and what that plot between Davis and Staten’s father, the senator, is like.”

She concluded: “I think we would probably do that because she says, ‘I’m going to go away for six months.’ So the idea right now, although nothing’s set in stone, is that we would do at least a six-month time jump.”

According to the screenwriter, season 2 would address the story lines that were left open ended.

“In a potential season 2, I think it’s a huge part of what’s going on. We’re still just in the room, so I don’t have every aspect to tell you. Westerns are morality tales, and so every aspect of this show, we always try to come from that foundation of love, lands, and legacy, and what that really means,” Blair continued. “For Sheriff Dan, this is his legacy and his family and the people that he loves. He has this moral choice. Does he do the right thing by his family and the wrong thing by his profession? That’s his morality moment, so we try to do that with everyone, but that’s the thing he’s grappling with, and he painfully chooses to do the right thing.”

Ransom Canyon is currently streaming on Netflix.