Marshals shocked Yellowstone fans by killing Monica off — and are they now having Kayce Dutton move on after just four episodes?
During the Sunday, March 22, episode, Kayce (Luke Grimes) helped someone who got stranded after a plane crash. His daughter appeared quite grateful and by the end of the episode, she was flirting with Kayce at the bar.
“I wish I knew a local who could give me a crash course on all things Big Sky. You were born and raised here, what do you say?” Dolly (Ellyn Jameson) said while flirting with Kayce, who replied, “Maybe.”
CBS announced on March 12, that Marshals is returning for more episodes after its premiere was watched by 20.6 million viewers within seven days. This marked the most-watched network original series premiere without a football lead-in since 2017.
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CBS announced on Thursday, March 12, that Marshals is returning for more episodes after its premiere was watched by 20.6 million viewers within seven days. This marked the most-watched network original series premiere without a football lead-in since 2017.
“Marshals delivered a breakout performance, capturing a massive audience across platforms and quickly establishing itself as one of TV’s most powerful new series,” CBS Entertainment president Amy Reisenbach said in a statement. “The overwhelming viewer response speaks to the strength of the Yellowstone world, the bold, character-driven storytelling from the creative team and the dynamic cast performances led by Luke Grimes.”
According to a press release, CBS has had several wins, with Marshals and Justin Hartley’s Tracker coming out as the top two most‑watched shows during their premiere week. The premiere of Luke Grimes‘ spinoff, meanwhile, ranks as CBS’ most-streamed episode ever on Paramount+.
Paramount Network’s Yellowstone, which aired from 2018 to 2024, originally introduced Us to Grimes, 42, as Kayce Dutton. After the show came to an end, it was announced that the actor would be headlining his own series for CBS, which follows Kayce as he leaves “ranching life behind to join an elite unit” of the U.S. Marshals while “combining his skills as a cowboy and Navy SEAL to bring range justice to Montana, where he and his teammates must balance family, duty and the high psychological cost that comes with serving as the last line of defense in the region’s war on violence.”
The show debuted earlier this month with Grimes, Arielle Kebbel, Ash Santos, Tatanka Means, Brett Cullen and Logan Marshall Green leading the cast. Longtime fans of Taylor Sheridan‘s Yellowstone universe were shocked, however, when the first episode revealed the death of Kayce’s wife, Monica (Kelsey Asbille).
Showrunner Spencer Hudnut later explained that the death happened after they realized Asbille, 34, wasn’t available to appear on the show.
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“The original conversation was that it has to be something [that happens to Kayce in the series premiere]. There was the thought of, ‘Maybe we find him and he’s just bored because he was protecting his family and was a Navy SEAL, so then actually a calm life is not for him, which is a path,’” Hudnut told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month about the motivation behind the new spinoff. “But probably not a satisfying enough path for Kayce. Then, truthfully, as we were trying to figure it out, Monica was not one of the ingredients that was available to me.”
Hudnut clarified that he didn’t speak with Asbille before it was decided that Monica would be written off.
“No, I wasn’t part of any of that, so I can’t really speak to how or why that played out the way it did. But when that happened, it cleared up what that thing was for Kayce,” he noted. “And I think the way we’ve done it, my goal was to not undermine that journey in Yellowstone because they do have [the dream] — she says, ‘This is a dream come true’ at the end of it. They did achieve that. They did get what they finally wanted, and, unfortunately, life just intervened and disrupted everything that Kayce wanted. So that’s where we find him in Marshals.”
Marshals airs on CBS Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.
