Yellowstone's Piper Perabo Thought Ranchers Gave Cattle Names, Like Dogs
Piper Perabo was a big fan of "Yellowstone" before she got cast in her role as Summer in Season 4. In an interview with ScreenRant, the actor explained that she was surprised that the set was set up like a real ranch, and looked exactly like it looked on television. "As I came up the road, I thought, 'It's gonna be all spaced out in a weird way that you can't understand.' That's how film is when you show [up] on a film set: the kitchen set is next to the prison set, and it's all crazy." In fact, the realness of the set and Perabo's familiarity with the show made it easier for her to navigate the geography of the Dutton Ranch.
Perabo told Decider that part of the reason she got the role was that her husband, Stephen Kay, had been a director on "Sons of Anarchy," where he got to know "Yellowstone" creator Taylor Sheridan. It was when Perabo and Kay had dinner with Sheridan and his wife after Perabo had just been arrested for protesting in real-life that Sheridan was inspired to create a character based on Perabo's story.
But, despite the fact that Perabo had so much experience with the show as a fan before becoming a part of the cast, the actor actually had some misconceptions about how ranches work, and some of those misconceptions were fairly hilarious.
Piper Perabo says that she was about as uninformed about ranches as her character
Piper Perabo talked about how little she knew about ranches before she started playing the role of Summer on "Yellowstone," and how it mirrored her character's ignorance of ranch life during an interview with TV Guide. "I thought they gave the cattle names, like a dog," she explained. "I really didn't understand, so Summer's understanding aligns a lot with my understanding." This meant Perabo didn't exactly have to act like she was confused by ranch life, because she actually was.
The actor voiced to ScreenRant that, while she does engage in a lot of protests like her character does on the show, she doesn't agree with Summer going in to protest a community that she doesn't understand. "When you go into a community, it's so important that you know and understand the community and understand the dynamics that are working there," Perabo explained, in regard to what she felt her character did wrong on the show.
Thus, while Perabo may know as little about ranch life as the character she plays on the show, she still knows better than to go into a community to protest something she doesn't really understand. Now that she's been on the show for two seasons, presumably, Perabo has learned a little more about what actually goes on on a ranch like Yellowstone — and perhaps that can inform her future social justice work.