“Yellowstone” star Jefferson White died in a tragic car accident md20

At least two Western shows to have changed television feature a lead character who’s a marshal, so Kayce is in great company. Played once again by Luke Grimes, Yellowstone’s unsung hero will be drawing on his experience as a former U.S. Navy Seal to engage in high-stakes law enforcement within his home state of Montana.

By turning Kayce Dutton into an all-action lawman working for the Marshal Service, Taylor Sheridan is invoking a longstanding genre tradition inspired by the best Western characters in TV history. U.S. Marshals have been revered figures in the Western genre ever since the days of Marshal Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke.

Taylor Sheridan’s Marshals Sees Kayce Dutton Become A U.S. Marshal

When the teaser trailer released for Yellowstone’s spinoff Marshals was released back in November, we got to see Kayce Dutton in his uniform for the first time. As a buccaneering Montana lawman, he’s going to be playing a very different role in society from his days working at Dutton Ranch.

We’re used to Kayce being the dog’s body of the Dutton family, charged with doing his father’s dirty work while trying to keep his wife and young son safe. In Marshals, however, he’ll be on the right side of the law, responsible for keeping the peace between ranchers, local tribes, and land developers in one of America’s wildest Western states.

Kayce Follows In The Footsteps Of Legendary TV Marshals Matt Dillon & Raylan Givens

Kayce Dutton is far from the first Western TV hero to work as a U.S. Marshal. In fact, the TV genre’s two best lawmen were marshals rather than sheriffs. Gunsmoke’s Matt Dillon spent 20 years maintaining order and chasing bandits out of town in Dodge City, Kansas.

Meanwhile, in more recent times, Justified’s fearsome gunslinger Raylan Givens served as a marshal in Harlan County, Georgia. Both characters will clearly have provided inspiration for the role we’re about to see Kayce Dutton take on in Marshals. We may even notice specific storylines in the show that are directly inspired by Gunsmoke and Justified.

Matt Dillon & Raylan Givens Are The 2 Greatest Western TV Characters Of All Time

Played by the best Western TV actors of their respective generations, Matt Dillon and Raylan Givens are two very different characters. Nevertheless, they each represent the pinnacle of the genre on the small screen.

Dillon is a traditional hero of the Old West, whose swashbuckling approach to enforcing the law in Dodge City involves everything from deadly sharpshooting to high-speed chases on horseback. James Arness’ portrayal of Dillon across two decades is the greatest all-round performance in the history of the TV genre.

Likewise, Timothy Olyphant’s contemporary portrayal of Raylan Givens has set the benchmark for Kayce Dutton in Marshals, as well as just about every neo-Western lawman out there. Givens may be a modern-day icon, but his way of doling out justice is distinctly 19th century, with echoes of Clint Eastwood in Hang ‘Em High and High Plains Drifter.