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‘Yellowstone’ Is a Family Affair for New Cast Member Piper Perabo: Here’s Why

Actress Piper Perabo is not the first person in her family to join the “Yellowstone” team. By the time Perabo got to “Yellowstone,” her husband had already beat her to it.

Perabo’s husband, Stephen Kay, has directed eight episodes of “Yellowstone.” He has also directed multiple episodes of the TV shows “Mayor of Kingstown,” “Friday Night Lights” and “Sons of Anarchy,” and he directed the movies “Boogeyman” and “Get Carter,” per IMDb.

“My husband, Stephen Kay, who is a director and producer, and [‘Yellowstone’ co-creator] Taylor [Sheridan], they worked together on a show called ‘Sons of Anarchy,’” Perabo explained in a new behind-the-scenes featurette. “It makes sense that they both would land together on a show like ‘Yellowstone,’ because those are the kind of worlds they build.”

Piper Perabo’s Husband Transitioned from Acting to Directing

Before he was a director and producer, Kay acted on shows like “General Hospital,” according to People. He hails from New Zealand.

Kay and Perabo married in New York City in 2014, the Daily Mail reports. They kept the celebration low-profile but apparently had a New Orleans-style band at their reception.

As a director, Kay seems confident he understands the nature of “Yellowstone” and what series co-creator Taylor Sheridan has set out to do. In an interview given after Season 3 was shot but before it aired, he talked about the “Yellowstone” rules and how exhausting each season is to shoot.

“We have two sort of rules,” Kay said in a Paramount Network featurette on the “Yellowstone” crew. “Break their hearts a little bit, and make them want to be cowboys. If you come at it like that, every scene sort of starts to make sense.”

At the same time, he said people should stop looking for an overarching pattern to the drama on “Yellowstone.” The crew treats each episode like its own little movie.

“People always look for a pattern, and there is no pattern on ‘Yellowstone,’” Kay added. “That’s our other sort of rule, is: ‘Chaos, chaos, chaos, that’s a wrap.’ … You prep differently every episode.”

Still, at the end of the day, Kay said they’re looking to create art, not chaos, and the show’s growing audience seems to agree. He mentioned the soul of the show, and certainly for the cast and crew, who have become like family, the show’s soulfulness is a virtue.

“The soul of this is a poem,” Kay said. “It’s a cowboy poem.”

Watch Kay talk about “Yellowstone” here:  

‘Yellowstone’ Season 4 Is Almost Here

Perabo will feature in Season 4 as Summer Higgins, an animal rights activist who travels from Portland to Montana to protest state-funded police force protection of industrialized farming. Higgins arrives in the valley ready to protest the killing of animals on local ranches, but stumbles onto something bigger.

Will she be a friend or foe to the Duttons? Most likely a thorn in their side. But there’s only one way to find out for sure, and that’s to tune in to the Season 4 premiere.

The two-hour season premiere drops Sunday, Nov. 7, exclusively on the Paramount Network. “Yellowstone” fans, have your televisions ready.