Ransom Canyon love triangle was a writers’ room split, showrunner says
April Blair says Lauren, Lucas and Kit’s Season 2 mess grew from surprise chemistry in a Season 1 tornado scene.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
3 min read
The Ransom Canyon love triangle that put Lauren Brigman between brothers Lucas and Kit Russell was not part of the original plan, showrunner April Blair told Deadline. It grew out of a Season 1 tornado episode, where Blair said Lizzy Greene and Casey W. Johnson’s scenes carried more charge on screen than expected.
Season 2 of the Netflix western romance turns that spark into one of its messiest plots. Lauren, played by Greene, is dating Lucas Russell, played by Garrett Wareing. Kit, played by Johnson, is Lucas’ brother, and his history with Lauren’s family makes the whole situation even more tangled.
Blair told Deadline that after Season 1 wrapped, the writers were already working on the second season when she watched the cut of Episode 7. The scene had been written as Lauren and Kit bonding during the tornado, she said, but the finished episode convinced her there was something more to explore.
Why is Lauren torn between Lucas and Kit in Ransom Canyon?
Lauren’s Season 2 conflict comes from her relationship with Lucas colliding with a new attraction to Kit. The complication is sharper because Kit is Lucas’ brother and was previously involved with Lauren’s mother, Marge.
That older affair was exposed after Marge, played by Sarah Minnich, killed Staten’s son Randall in a drunk driving crash. Kit was also a passenger in the vehicle, adding another layer to the family fallout around Lauren, Lucas and Kit.
Blair said the choice to push Lauren and Kit toward romance divided the writers’ room. She told Deadline she argued for the storyline because soap drama thrives on emotional trouble, even when viewers split hard over which pairing they want.
The audience reaction, according to Blair, matched that prediction. After the show aired, she said fans posted memes and comments taking both sides over Lauren and Kit, making that triangle one of the show’s most argued-over romances.
The tornado setup matters because Lauren was trying to leave the Russell trailer and get to the high school for shelter when a falling tree trapped her in her car and injured her ankle. With Lucas away searching for her at Gracie’s, Kit helped Lauren, shifting their relationship after earlier tension over whether she might hold Lucas back.
Season 2 then lets that tension boil over. Lauren and Kit kiss, and Lucas responds after seeing the betrayal by sleeping with Ashley, Lauren’s friend and former cheer teammate, played by Jennifer Ens.
Lauren’s own future is already unsettled. A shoulder injury in Season 1 changed her college plans, while Lucas’ high-achieving path has kept pressure on their romance.
Wareing had previously told Deadline that Season 2 would show a different side of Lucas after the warmer, eager energy viewers saw in Season 1. Blair has now suggested that shift could continue if the show gets another chapter.
Blair told Deadline she still views Lucas and Lauren as an “endgame” pairing in the mold of Staten and Quinn, whose relationship is reflected through advice scenes with the younger couple. For a potential Season 3, she said the writers’ room has discussed Lucas trying to find himself instead of focusing only on winning Lauren back.
Her phrase for that possible turn: Lucas may get his own “bad boy era.” Blair stressed that Season 3 remains only a potential next step, with the idea being that Lucas is wounded but trying to look as if he is handling it.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.