Taylor Sheridan ‘Keeps It Very Real,’ Says ‘Marshals’ Star Ash Santos: ‘He Cuts Through the Bulls---’ (Exclusive)

‘Marshals’ star Ash Santos tells PEOPLE about her experiences working with Taylor Sheridan before she booked the ‘Yellowstone’ spinoff series and why his own background as an actor makes him “care” more.

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Marshals star Ash Santos opens up to PEOPLE about her experience working with Taylor Sheridan

“Because he was an actor, he very much cares about the actor’s process,” Santos explains

Her comments echo what other stars have said about Sheridan, including Nicole Kidman

According to Ash Santos, Taylor Sheridan is a real asset to the actors working on his projects.

Santos is one of the stars of Marshals, the CBS spinoff series following Yellowstone’s Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes). Prior to Marshals, she says it was a “big dream of mine” to land a role on a “Taylor Sheridan show.”

“I met him about a month before I tested for Marshals, because I was testing for another project of his,” Santos tells PEOPLE. “Before that, we had only ever spoken on the phone. When I was reading for a role on Mayor of Kingstown, he called me to kind of walk me through what he wanted to see in my audition, and then we finally met in person last summer.”

“Because he was an actor, he very much cares about the actor’s process,” Santos, 33, says.

“What I appreciate about him is that he just keeps it very real. He just kind of cuts through the bulls---,” she adds of Sheridan. “He’s just very like, ‘Okay, this is what I’m trying to see. This is why.’ ”

It’s a notion that several other stars who have worked with the prolific TV writer have shared. Nicole Kidman once called Sheridan “an incredible acting coach.”

“You can have one call with him, and he’ll give you four words of how to play the scene,” she said at an April event.

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Landman star Ali Larter, meanwhile, has described Sheridan as a “provocateur,” as she said, “He loves to write characters that make people respond, that initiate a reaction, a feeling. And I think that what’s incredible about our show, and a lot of the shows that Taylor makes, is that they’re all wildly original and authentic to themselves.”

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Sheridan is not quite as involved in Marshals as he is in Lioness or Landman. The series is a true spinoff and was created by Spencer Hudnut, and Santos says it’s “fun” to see Hudnut take the reins in the world Sheridan created.

“It was his idea that he pitched Taylor on,” Santos explains. “And the fact that in one season, he’s been able to take a world that Taylor created, but then create his own show off of it, and it has done so incredibly well, it makes me really happy for Spencer and just kind of speaks to his talent.”

“That’s not an easy thing to do — taking characters someone else created and then making [them] your own. So I’m really proud of him.”

Marshals season 2 premieres on Oct. 4 on CBS. Season 1 is now streaming on Paramount+.

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