“Yellowstone” spin-off “Marshals” seems to have been well-received, with Variety reporting the show is the most-watched new series of the season. That’s quite a feat, considering Paramount jettisoned “Yellowstone” creator and writer Taylor Sheridan in favor of an all-new creative team led by former “SEAL Team” showrunner Spencer Hudnut. Sheridan was the magic behind not only “Yellowstone” but its two prequel series and the wide array of similarly successful Paramount+ shows that have come in their wake. But on “Marshals,” Sheridan is only credited as executive producer, raising the question of just how involved he is with the day-to-day of Luke Grimes’ Kayce Dutton spin-off. Well, according to Hudnut, the “Yellowstone” creator isn’t involved in the day-to-day at all, though he has made himself available to shepherd the series when needed.
You can see how a “Yellowstone” spin-off following Kayce as a U.S. Marshal might have seemed appealing. Sure, Grimes thought the initial pitch for “Marshals” sounded like a “terrible” idea, but there was surely something irresistible about the prospect of turning Kayce into a full-on action hero. Unfortunately, “Marshals” doesn’t actually know what it’s about. There is so much happening in this “Yellowstone” off-shoot it has thus far struggled to settle into a groove, which means the jury’s still out on whether Grimes’ initial instinct about “Marshals” was right.
Had Sheridan been writing, we might have gotten a more focused show. As it stands, however, the “Yellowstone” creator is far too busy to exert his characteristically fastidious control over “Marshals.”
Taylor Sheridan isn’t involved in the day-to-day of making Marshals
Spencer Hudnut has talked about how he convinced Luke Grimes to return as Kayce Dutton, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “I got a lot of help from Taylor [Sheridan], who told Luke that I was worth hearing out and that [I] maybe had [a] kernel of an idea worth exploring.” He also explained how he had to convince Sheridan to revisit Kayce’s story after the Dutton scion was given one of the best endings of any main character on “Yellowstone.” Somehow, he managed to do it and Sheridan gave Hudnut his blessing to start working on the spin-off series, with the “Yellowstone” creator taking the obligatory executive producer credit.
But just how involved Sheridan is on “Marshals” has remained somewhat unclear. After all, an executive producer credit doesn’t actually mean much beyond recognizing Sheridan as the originator of the “Yellowstone” universe. Hudnut has, however, clarified just how involved Sheridan is with “Marshals,” addressing the question during a Television Critics Association panel (via TVInsider). “Sheridan was not part of the day-to-day work on the show,” the showrunner confirmed. “I don’t think I’d be sitting here if he had to be involved in a day-to-day way. That was never the setup. But he’s certainly there for us when we need him.”
Hudnut did credit Sheridan for having his fingerprints “all over this show,” adding, “He created these great characters. He created this great universe. He was very generous to me in terms of his time and helping shape this show. He’s been incredibly gracious throughout.” The showrunner went on to say that Sheridan was available to help solve problems whenever they arose, adding that his influence “is in every sort of aspect of this show.”
Taylor Sheridan helped shape the idea for Marshals
Aside from the bewildering amount of storylines being set up on “Marshals” (Did we ever find out what happened to the “serial bomber” from Episode 4?), one thing holding it back is the simple fact it exists in the shadow of “Yellowstone” — one of the most popular and successful TV shows of the last decade. The comparisons will remain regardless of what Spencer Hudnut and his writing team do. Luckily for Hudnut, he was given significant access to Taylor Sheridan. As the “Marshals” showrunner told THR:
“Throughout this process, [Sheridan has] always been available to me. When I pitched [‘Marshals’], he was super gracious and we had a back and forth. In his brain, he took what my ideas were, which is a fair amount of what’s on the screen, but he reshaped them and put it in the right package for ‘Marshals.’ He did that in about three minutes, which was really annoying, because I had been working on it for, like, six months.”
It seems that Sheridan did have a hand in crafting the spin-off, then, but as Hudnut went on to say, the prolific TV impresario is simply too busy to work full-time on a CBS procedural. “He wants the show to stay on its own,” explained Hudnut. “He has a very full plate. I do think my job is to keep things from getting onto Taylor’s plate. So, with the day-to-day, he has really let me sort of run with it.”
As popular as “Marshals” is, there is something inescapably strange about seeing Kayce Dutton and the other “Yellowstone” holdovers animated by the words of writers other than Sheridan. Regardless of how many “Yellowtone” storylines “Marshals” revisits, the show still hasn’t shaken off that sense of discomfort.