Going off grid with the cast of The Madison: Patrick J Adams, Michael Fox, Beau Garret and Elle Chapman share the wilderness essentials behind Taylor Sheridan's new show

Taylor Sheridan almost feels like a character himself – a cowboy theatre kid screenwriter. But he’s also the man behind hits like Yellowstone (plus all its spin offs), Sicario, and Tulsa King amongst others. Now he’s back, delivering another Yellowstone-esque series called The Madison, set against the jaw-droppingly stunning Madison river in Montana.

The series revolves around married couple Preston and Stacey Clyburn, played by Kurt Russell and Michelle Pfeiffer, together for over 40 years with a happy life in Manhattan, complete with a picture perfect family. Whilst Stacey loves their city life, Preston has spent years fishing and spending time up at his family cabin in Montana with his brother Paul (Matthew Fox) and tried - and failed - to persuade Stacey to see the beauty of it herself. After years of his solo trips to the cabin, a sudden event finally persuades her to come and see the beauty for herself.

Uprooting herself from her swanky, cosmopolitan lifestyle in Manhattan, Stacey heads out to Montana and despite their protestation, drags the whole family – daughters Abigail (Beau Garrett) Paige (Elle Chapman) son-in-law (Patrick J. Adams) and two granddaughters - along with her.

A bit of a tone change from what you’d associate with Taylor Sheridan, The Madison is a quiet, intimate portrayal of family life, grief, and humanity in nature. Ahead of the show’s European Premiere, we sat down with cast members Patrick J Adams, Michael Fox, Beau Garret and Elle Chapman for a quick chat about the new series, covering everything from astrology and elements to the best coffee they’ve ever had, and the one essential they’d take with them if they were marooned in a cabin* (*definitely not a rip off of Desert Island Discs).

A bit like on-screen, they're all a mix of country and city

It’s a debate as old as time, something that divides people like sweet and salty popcorn – are you a city mouse or a country mouse?

“I’m a blend,” Beau Garret confirms without hesitation.

“I love both,” Elle Chapman agrees. “I love the energy of a city but I love how being in the country makes me feel completely at ease, grounded, and quiet.”

"As I get older I’m becoming more of a country mouse,” Patrick J Adams muses.

“It’s hard because I have small children and whilst we love to take them out to the country you need the stimulus of the city for them. In my heart I wanna be out in the middle of nowhere.”

Whereas Michael Fox is definitely more country.

“I’m a farm ranch boy at heart," he laughs.

"I did enjoy living in big cities but I don’t think I could do that again. London looks amazing right now and I’ve lived here for sox months whilst I was doing a play here but these days I like a quieter vibe. City life when you’re in your twenties and thirties is great fun. But now I like things quieter.”

Wilderness coffee for the win

If you get food-envy when watching things like Bake Off, you're probably going to get coffee-envy from a particular scene in The Madison's opening episode. When it comes to the cast, they're nearly all coffee-loving outdoor-sippers.

“[When you’re] on a long hike or if you’re doing overnight camping and you wake up in the morning and have a coffee in the wilderness that’s pretty special,” says Garret.

"I’m a big coffee person," nods Fox. "Any kind of coffee you have outside, in the wilderness, we call that cowboy coffee, like the one in the show – water in a pot with grounds and you boil it all together then filter it. There’s something special about coffee on an open fire.”

Adams enjoys his outdoors comforts, too.

“I had a campervan I was living in cause we were shooting an hour away, so I took my van and set up on the property and camp out," he recalls. "My favourite coffee was in the morning out the van just a simple French press. The Madison river was in front of me, animals running in front of me – it’s all about location.”

The outlier? Chapman. “I’m not a coffee person," she says.

"I’m a Matcha and tea person – there was a place in Montana [where we were filming] called Wild Crumb which did the best pastries.”

Off-grid must-haves

There are a lot of things we can't imagine living without – our pets, loved ones... our LEGO sets... the list goes on. For the cast of The Madison, if they were living in a cabin off the grid, they each have something special they'd bring with them.

“My husband got me this awesome red mask thing with the light – which I’m so into," says Garrent. "It’s like don’t talk to me, 30 minutes to myself. It does something to my face, it makes me younger! I love it!"

It's a more sensib;e choice for Fox. “I’m gonna go more practical and go for topo maps like topological maps.”

"Or like a nice candle that doesn’t ever burn away," adds Beau.

For Adams, a creative outlet is needed. “Is a camera allowed? A medium format film camera, an amea 7.2. A proper chunky one”

And though the pavements and halfpipes might be a little hard to come by, its “my skateboard" for Chapman.

"Can I say that? And my cat, my cat is luxury.”

Even your favourite TV stars have favourite TV shows

Taylor Sheridan has created an actual mini universe with Yellowstone and its respective prequels and spin offs. Whilst The Madison serves as a separate, stand-alone series, it will give people slight flashbacks due to the setting. When it comes to shows from their favourite writers, Beau and Matthew have a couple that spring to mind.

“I’m a huge Severance fan," reveals Fox. "So whoever’s behind the premise of that show, it’s really beautiful. So that premise is very original and I’m enjoying it a lot. More of that”

And it's a shout-out to a co-star that gets the nod from Beau Garret.

“Not to toot her horn but I’m excited to see Michelle [Pfieffer] in Margo’s Got Money Problems which is her husband’s show – I think David E Kelley is insanely, insanely talented, and this is the first time they’ve collaborated so I’m intrigued to watch that.”

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