‘It Will Be Weird’: Yellowstone Star Addresses Upcoming Spinoff Return After Emotional Finale

Yellowstone fans were divided over the series finale, with some arguing the wrap-up was rushed for the Duttons.Y: Marshals offers some consolation, at least for Kayce’s arc; he’s moving on to new pastures. Luke Grimes reflected on five seasons of Yellowstone and his “bizarre transition” towards the spinoff.

Kayce Dutton had one of the more cathartic endings in the Yellowstone finale, and it was everything Luke Grimes wanted for his character. “On the last day of shooting, I thought it was my last day as Kayce. It was over to me,” he told People. “It was seven years of playing a person that I’ll never see again, except for having his hat and jacket in my closet. It wasn’t until probably three or four months after that that everything started aligning for the [spinoff].”

Kayce did ride into the sunset, but “a whole new world” awaits him over the horizon. In May 2025, Grimes confirmed he would be reprising Kayce in Y: Marshals, one of the franchise’s upcoming spinoffs (with 1944 and Dutton Ranch in different stages of production). These add to the expanding Yellowstone universe, 1883, Lawmen: Bass Reeves, and 1923 included. Grimes admitted he was initially conflicted about the offer, thinking Kayce “got what he has been looking for” at the end of Yellowstone.

Kayce seemed settled and at peace in the series finale, having sold the Dutton land to Chief Thomas Rainwater. “Where do you go from there?” Grimes recalled thinking when he first heard about plans for a spinoff. It turned out to be a strong premise, a brand-new arc for his character. In Y: Marshals, Kayce will “join an elite unit of U.S. Marshals, combining his skills as a cowboy and Navy SEAL to bring range justice to Montana, serving as the last line of defense in the region’s war on violence (per the official logline)”.

Kayce Dutton Becomes A Federal Law Enforcer In His Yellowstone Spinoff

Grimes will be leading Y: Marshals‘ new ensemble, and it’s yet to be confirmed if Kelsey Asbille and Brecken Merrill will reprise Monica and Tate Dutton. Grimes teased as much, but admitted that “it will be weird” navigating that transition. “There’s going to be some familiar faces, but there’s going to be a lot of new faces too, so we’ll see how that all feels,” he said. He also promised Yellowstone fans the spinoff will do justice to Kayce’s storyline: “We definitely wanted to make sure to give it a real story and make it interesting and make it believable.”

“If it was just like, ‘well, he’s happy’ — we’re just going to watch him be happy? That’s not very cool,” Grimes continued. “But I’ll say this, the idea that was pitched to me is very, very good and very interesting and it really roped me in and I think it will rope the audience in as well.”