Taylor Sheridan’s The Madison is an emotional adventure that navigates highs and lows after the Clyburn family loses patriarch Preston and his brother Paul in a plane crash. Paramount+ audiences watch the family struggle with grief and disconnection, while they also find a new community within Montana’s Madison River Valley, which gives the series its name.
In an interview, cast members Kevin Zegers (who plays Cade Harris), Danielle Vasinova (Kestrel Harris), Ben Schnetzer (Van Davis), Rebecca Spence (Liliana Weeks) and Alaina Pollack (Macy Reese) shared some of their favorite moments from The Madison. They also spoke on what stood out to them about their characters. Plus, how did they handle some of the season’s emotional scenes?
Alaina, you have one of the breakout roles in The Madison. What was it like being part of the Clyburn family with all of these talented actors?
Alaina Pollack: I love all of them so much. I honestly feel like I gained another family from this show. We’re all so close, and everyone is so supportive and protective, and so, so great.
I feel so lucky to work with these people, and work in this setting, and work with my director Christina [Alexandra Voros] and Taylor [Sheridan]. Everyone is so amazing. Taylor, the first time I met him, we were in Texas for a table read. I was sitting down and I was shaking, I was so nervous. Taylor walked in and I got up to shake his hand and say hello, and he just gave me a hug. He was like, we do hugs around here, and that’s how he’s greeted me every time since.
Kevin, playing Cade is incredibly different from your recent TV roles, such as starring in The Rookie: Feds. Was it a challenge to step into this character?
Kevin Zegers: I feel like this is probably the closest to my own life that I’ve done.. My personal life is very much, I try to set it up in a way that’s similar to the way that Cade, is with trying to be of service to my family. And I’m in recovery, so I try to be of service to the people in in that part of my life, too.
So there was just something about Cade and about his role in the story that I felt like I was uniquely in a position in my life to be able to do, and I probably wouldn’t have been five or ten years ago. It’s kind of the first time that I was like okay, I’m gonna dump as much of my own personal life into this guy as I can. Which is why it felt so nice to do.
Ben, you’re in somewhat of a similar situation. Viewers will know you from the TV adaptation of Y: The Last Man, which was this epic story. But there’s also an epic quality to The Madison as well, so what was playing Van like for you?
Ben Schnetzer: I loved Y; it was such a meaningful experience and such a fun show. The characters are so different. I think Yorick was someone who really didn’t have very much of a filter, and was a little bit scattershot all over the place, and was pretty incompetent. Whereas Van, on the other hand, is someone who’s very taciturn, he’s very laconic, he is very kind of reserved and held—and he’s someone who’s very capable. He’s a very capable person.
I admire that a lot in him as a character. And it was really fun to walk in the shoes of someone who’s the steady hand. He’s the person that you call on when you need help, and he takes it on board. It’s his responsibility. He’s from a place in the world where being someone’s neighbor really means something; it’s a role that you play, and it’s a purpose that you have. Those two characters are two of my favorite characters I’ve been able to play.
Danielle, you had previously appeared on 1923, which is another Taylor Sheridan show. Did that experience help you on The Madison?
Danielle Vasinova: 1923 was more of a period piece… I played Comanche, and I actually had to learn to speak Comanche for that show. And it was pretty cool, because my first day on the job I got to ride into town kind of guns a-blazing on a horse, which is what I’ve done since I was about three years old. So that was sort of like a bucket list dream come true.
And on this show I play a character called Kestrel Harris, and they describe her as being wilder than a rabid hare back in the day. I was in the rodeo circuit and was an ex-barrel racer, and then saw [Cade], and we fell madly in love. We live our life on the ranch, and we just live a very simple life, but a very fulfilling life. And it’s a beautiful part to play, because I kind of represent Mother Earth, and just doing things in a very, very natural way.
Rebecca, your first scene is one of the biggest in the whole season, when Stacy finds out that Preston has died while at lunch with Liliana. How did you approach playing such a powerful scene with Michelle Pfeiffer?
Rebecca Spence: Michelle is so incredible as a performer and as a scene partner. There wasn’t a whole lot of acting involved; it was just reacting to watching the emotion spread across her face. To hear the news, and to be in a public setting and all that that means, when you know the gravity of a situation, when you’re willing to have such an emotional scene in public amongst strangers.
The human body doesn’t know that you’re pretending sometimes, when you are in sort of like a high-stakes place surrounded by a bunch of people that you don’t know, and then you watch someone go through something incredibly painful and intimate. You cannot help but respond naturally to what she does, and she did it so beautifully that those were pretty real-time reactions of just responding to her. It was an intense day. That was a hard day.
Schnetzer: I just have to fanboy out for a second, because I think it’s such a beautiful scene, that scene, and I think you guys both do such an amazing job. The fact that it’s set in a public place—you’re in the middle of a restaurant, and it’s daytime, and you’re surrounded—it was written intentionally to be vulnerable and to be exposing, and it’s a real challenge as an actor to meet that. I think it’s such a profoundly moving scene.
Alaina, you’re involved in several emotional moments as well, as the family sorts themselves out across the season. How did you approach that part of playing Macy?
Pollack: Before this, I had never had a lot of emotional scenes, and there’s a lot of that in the show. I really observed everyone very closely in how they got to that place, and it was really interesting to watch. Everyone does it differently. And so [it] really helped me, to learn how to do that from everyone.
What are your favorite scenes from or elements of The Madison? What stands out to you?
Vasinova: It has such a tremendous heart to it. And it’s about grief and loss and family, but I think overall, resiliency and to realize what really matters in this life.
Zegers: I think the show’s really funny. I’ve always found grief to be a little weird and funny. And I think it doesn’t lean too much into the saccharine… It explores all aspects of grief. I found the scripts to be really funny.
The Madison is now streaming on Paramount+. Photo Credit: Courtesy of Paramount+.
