Ransom Canyon ending explained: Who dies & who gets the ranch?

Netflix’s new TV show Ransom Canyon might start off like any other comfort watch, but by the halfway point, the drama explodes. It’s the ending you’ll need to pay close attention to, though.

What if you took the entire premise of Virgin River and set it in the ranchland of Texas? That’s what new series Ransom Canyon has done, throwing in a light sprinkling of Yellowstone-style land-hogging for good measure. 

Our new Jack and Mel are Staten (Josh Duhamel) and Quinn (Minka Kelly), on-off first loves who never seem to know how to keep hold of the other. As the season starts, Staten’s rival Davis (Eoin Macken) has his eye on Quinn, while new arrival Yancy (Jack Schumacher) has a hidden history of his own.

That’s just scraping the surface of romantic frustration and complicated relationships in this fictional town, based on the original book series by Jodi Thomas. The Ransom Canyon ending gets a whole lot more confusing, so here’s what you need to know. Warning: spoilers ahead!

Cap’s death changes Yancy’s future in Ransom Canyon

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Sorry you had to find out this way, but it’s Cap (James Brolin) who meets his maker in the final episodes of Ransom Canyon. Viewers learn Yancy’s his grandson, looking for accommodation at his ranch under the guise of being a drifter.

What we don’t learn until much later is that Yancy is really there to try and scam Cap. Yancy genuinely is his grandson, going to meet his grandma who lives at the local nursing home in Episode 2. But his reasons for scamming are slightly more complex. Brought up by his mom who was dismissed by Cap at his father’s funeral, Yancy never got to know who his dad was. Seeing an ad in a local newspaper about Cap’s ranch and its worth, it felt all to play for.

Obviously, this isn’t what happened at all. As Yancy fell in love with local girl Ellie (Marianly Tejeda), she learned for every bad thing Yancy seems to do, he makes up for it with something overwhelmingly good. During the town’s hurricane warning, Yancy manages to save his grandma and Cap in the process, but it leads to something nastier further down the line.

As Reid’s mom takes the hit of being publicly involved with the oil company that wants to run Ransom, Davis tells Cap Yancy’s truth (remember, the two had been working together to try and get Cap to sell). When Yancy returns to the ranch, he finds Cap on the porch with a shotgun, making him enter fight or flight mode and running away.

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With Yancy gone, it was up to Staten to pay Cap a visit. Staten reminded Cap he felt guilty about what happened at the funeral, prompting Cap to spend years looking for Yancy off his own back. Needing a moment, Cap takes a ride on his horse to think things through, leading him to have a heart attack under a tree on his land.

Yancy makes a miraculous return, with Ellie finding him to say Cap is missing. He spends all night looking for him, eventually finding him in the early hours. The photo of Yancy’s parents is in Cap’s hand, with Yancy holding him in tears.

Now the town knows Yancy is Cap’s grandson, the ranch is officially his. With Davis and Staten’s uneasy truce falling apart (more on that later), Yancy vows never to sell the land. He begins to work with Staten to make sure Ewing Oil doesn’t sink any further into Ransom than it already is.

Ellie finds Yancy’s secret wife

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You might be wondering where this leaves Ellie and Yancy. After the hurricane, Ellie is won back over by his act of bravery. She’s also made a partner of the bar thanks to Quinn, and it seems as though her future is set when Yancy proposes to her.

However, the joy is quickly short-lived. One of the final scenes in Ransom Canyon Episode 10 shows Ellie being approached by an unknown woman. We never see her face, but she tells Ellie she’s looking for Yancy. When Ellie asks why, the woman says she’s Yancy’s wife… and that’s all we find out.  

It’s important to point out that while we learn Yancy isn’t his real name, we never find out what it really is. Our secret woman surely knows the truth – and hopefully we’ll find out ourselves in a second season. 

We know who really killed Randall – and it’s not Reid

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In Episode 1 of Ransom Canyon, we see Staten’s son Randall killed when his car runs off the road. The police put it down as a self-inflicted accident, but Staten’s convinced another vehicle was responsible. This is confirmed when Staten finds a piece of truck debris in the same spot where Randall was killed, but viewers are soon sold a red herring.

After CCTV footage showed Reid (Andrew Liner) with the same truck at a local repair shop, he was fully in the frame. When approached by cops at the rodeo in Episode 5, it’s clear Reid is hiding something… it’s not just what we think. Instead of killing his cousin, he only took the truck to be repaired as a “favor” called in by Kit (Casey W. Johnson). Kit had been selling him drugs, so to avoid being outed, Reid did what he was told, no questions asked.

Here’s where things get a little more complicated – Kit wasn’t the person responsible either. Instead, he’s taken the fall for the real perpetrator, Lauren’s mom. The two were having an affair behind Lauren (Lizzy Greene) and her dad’s back, who just happens to be the local Sheriff. Kit and her mom were both drunks, with the ordeal explaining why she suddenly took off when Lauren called her out for her drinking.

By the end of Ransom Canyon, almost everybody knows what really happened and is prepared to keep things covered up when Kit refuses to tell the truth. Everyone that is, except Lucas (Garrett Wareing).

Lucas and Lauren are still together… for now

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With Reid treating Lauren badly and Ransom itself treating Lucas badly, we’ve been rooting for the pair to get together since day one. Thankfully, they’re an item by the end of the season, but things likely won’t stay that way for long. 

Firstly, there’s the fact Lucas has no idea what Kit has done, alongside the fact everyone he loves is responsible for covering it up. Just as the season finale ends, we see Kit approach Lucas as if he’s finally ready to reveal all. But just as Kit’s about to open his mouth, the scene cuts.

The second reason is Lucas’ future. He’s fully committed to Lauren, believing everything they do will be done together after the fallout of the hurricane. Lauren’s ankle was badly injured in the chaos, meaning her ticket out of town – cheer tryouts – was no longer viable. At the same time, Lucas comes to Staten’s rescue. While the town barricades itself in Quinn’s bar, Lucas comes up with a solution to Staten’s money problems with the ranch using wind turbines.

Turns out, our social outcast is something of a genius. We find out he’s got letters from Harvard to Yale vying for him to attend, but after the hurricane (and even before, in all honesty), he was going to turn it all down for Lauren. Vowing to stay in town to give her stability, he mournfully looks at his letters when Kit arrives, knowing he’s giving up on something that could change his life for good. 

Staten and Quinn are torn apart again 

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It’s the on-off dynamic we always knew was coming. Staten and Quinn are two neighbors set up as having a lifetime of longing for each other, with Quinn making a beeline for Davis when she’s fed up of waiting for her feelings to be requited by Staten.

As Davis gets more involved with Ewing Oil, so does Quinn. She’s the first to accept an investment handout for her bar, giving her a financial injection she’s desperately looking for. David seems to change his mind as the season continues, though, with Staten almost convincing him to put their differences aside. If they both don’t sell, the two families could come together and leave everything to Reid.

Just as Davis accepts the idea, he backs off. Why? He finds out Quinn and Staten officially got together during the hurricane lockdown. From then on, it’s back to being at loggerheads.

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Frustratingly, the same can be said for the new couple themselves. As Ewing Oil quickly looks to get its investment back from the bar, Quinn has no idea how she’s going to come up with the money. She makes Ellie a partner to help out, but ultimately decides to return to her first calling of being a classically trained pianist. Quinn has been poached for shows in New York since the season began, telling Staten she’s going to leave town to take the job for the greater good.

Instead of being supportive, Staten flies into a fit of rage. He claims it was always Quinn’s plan to leave him behind instead of being invested in building a life with him in Ransom. Obviously this isn’t true, but he won’t hear any differently. The two head their separate ways on bad terms, with Staten seen cutting off the bracelets Quinn made for them both. 

Sam and Davis plot to take over Staten’s ranch 

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But where does this leave Staten and Davis? As expected, not in the best place. With Yancy on his side, Staten doubles down on not selling his land, intent on keeping it in the family. However, Staten’s dad Sam (Brett Cullen) has the opposite opinion. 

The most publicly involved with Ewing Oil aside from Davis and his ex-wife, Sam is furious with Staten’s intentions. He claims the board of trustees (basically all of the cousins in the family) don’t trust him, but the real problem lies underneath. He’s bitter Staten was left the ranch by his grandpa, skipping over Sam altogether. Sam feels as though he is the rightful heir to the ranch, and will do whatever it takes to get it back.

Of course, help comes in the form of Davis. In an unrelated conversation, Davis asks Staten to punch him to help a situation against someone else, to which Staten is only too happy to oblige. Sent off with a black eye, this is of course used in the plot against Staten instead. Sam and Davis are seen in a truck together, with Sam telling the board of trustees he knows a way to prove Staten is unreliable to run the ranch, looking over at Davis. 

Ransom Canyon is streaming on Netflix now. For more, check out shows to watch like Virgin River, new TV shows streaming this month, the best TV shows of the year so far, and anticipated 2025 releases you cannot miss.