Why ‘Ransom Canyon’ Star Josh Duhamel + Family Prefer Their Tiny ‘Doomsday Cabin’ to Hollywood

Ransom Canyon star Josh Duhamel is currently starring on one of the most successful shows streaming on television, but when he's not working, look for the actor far from the bright lights of Hollywood.

The actor and his family spend as much time as they can at a tiny home in the woods that he calls their "doomsday cabin," and they love it there.

Duhamel tells Country Living that he purchased the original half-parcel of land on the water in a rural part of Minnesota 15 years ago, and he built a small cabin that was light on amenities.

“We were basically homesteading the first 12 years," the actor says. "For the longest time we didn’t have plumbing. We were using outhouses and washing dishes in the lake.”

Over time, Duhamel and his wife, model and television host Audra Mari, made major additions to the cabin, but it's still very back-to-basics, and that's part of what they love about it.

“I feel so connected to it — I didn’t just buy the place, I shaped this place," he points out. "While we’ve made a lot of improvements, you still feel like you’re roughing it, and I love that.”

Duhamel and his family don't live at the cabin full-time. They're also renovating a house in Los Angeles. But he values the time they spend at the rural property — especially what it teaches his two sons.

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“There are a lot of great things about L.A.,” says the actor, who is currently remodeling a home in the city, “but here my kids get to be kids—catching frogs, collecting sticks. They come home and they’re filthy, and I think that’s so good for them. These days there’s so much anger in the world, and I think it’s because people are on their phones, getting caught up in whatever they’re being fed through their devices as opposed to being outside connecting with the world. Nature helps ground you to what’s important.”

Duhamel plays a widowed rancher named Staten Kirkland on Ransom Canyon. The main story follows the long relationship between Kirkland and a local dance hall owner named Quinn O'Grady (Minka Kelly). She's a former concert pianist who returned to her Texas hometown after a setback that shook her confidence.

The longtime friends have had romantic feelings for one another for years, but have never quite gotten the timing right as the show begins. The plot follows not only what might be a blooming romance, but also a plot by a Texas-based gas company to gain control of Kirkland's land, as well as seize controlling interests in most of the businesses in town.

Ransom Canyon has been a massive hit for Netflix, reaching No. 1 on the streaming service within a week of its April debut and remaining in the Top 10 for weeks.

Though Netflix has yet to renew Ransom Canyon for a second season, it seems likely the network will soon announce the news. Both Duhamel and the show's creator, April Blair, have said in interviews that the creative team behind the show has been "in the room" putting together ideas for a potential Ransom Canyon Season 2 already.