Around a campfire on the Utah set of Marshals, the third spinoff of the Taylor Sheridan megahit Yellowstone, it was freezing cold, pushing midnight, and Luke Grimes was having the time of his life with his new co-stars who play a team of U.S. Marshals. “It was one of the best nights of the shoot. In the scene, we’re supposed to be bonding, and I felt it actually happening [in real life],” the actor says.
It’s about time that Kayce Dutton, Grimes’ loner cowboy, had a posse beyond the dysfunctional rich ranching clan who had mostly died off when the neo-Western ended after five seasons in 2024. This Montana-set procedural picks up about 15 months later when Kayce joins a federal law enforcement team at the request of his old play-by-the-book SEAL buddy, Cal (Logan Marshall-Green, Big Sky) who went through hell with Kayce in wartime.
For Grimes, the first days of shooting brought a mix of nostalgia and nerves. He was on the same Utah soundstages where Yellowstone first filmed in 2017 before the production relocated to Montana in Season 2, but this time, he was number one on the call sheet. “I slept a lot less than I had in most of my life because I’m doing 70-hour weeks,” Grimes says. “Clearly, there’s some pressure. This first season, I’m the guy on the poster and if this fails, maybe everyone’s going to think it’s my fault. [Eventually] I put that away.”
A New Path
Carrying a badge again wasn’t what anyone expected for Kayce after his Yellowstone fairytale ending. The guy who’d once chafed at being Livestock Commissioner was living happily on a quiet corner of the ranch with his wife Monica (Kelsey Asbille), a member of the Broken Rock tribe, and son Tate (Brecken Merrill). “Being a cowboy was at the heart of his character. He wanted his little slice of heaven and some cattle. Every other Dutton wanted the world,” Grimes says. “[But] before Marshals starts, the worst thing that could possibly happen to him happens.” That propels Kayce to “take this job [and] become a useful member of his community again. It feels good to be good at something and use it to help people.”
Helping people means taking on high-stakes cases that series creator Spencer Hudnut (SEAL Team) aims to ground in the real world. To make the team’s work life authentic, he brought in a onetime U.S. Marshal as an advisor. Kayce and Cal’s military background gets a reality gut-check from a writer who’s a former SEAL and worked on SEAL Team. Cases include girls going missing from reservations, domestic terrorism, even drug cartels pushing into Montana. But sometimes the transition from frogmen to horsemen threw Hudnut. “When we put a grizzly bear on set in Episode 4, I’m like, what kind of show am I on?” he says with a laugh.
One that CBS is betting will be another hit! Discussions about the spinoff, which was always planned as a broadcast show, started just before the mothership series dropped the final season. Hudnut was given the reins by Yellowstone mastermind Taylor Sheridan. “Taylor wants this show to stand on its own,” says Hudnut. Sheridan makes himself available if asked but isn’t involved in the day-to-day. “He wants Kayce’s journey to not be tied to the Yellowstone universe too heavily but continue the themes that resonated with his audience. There’s enough for Yellowstone [fans] — and people who haven’t visited the universe yet can jump in.”
Adventure Ahead
The 13 action-packed episodes feature those themes of protecting your family and community, plus plenty of iconic cowboy ridin’ and shootin’. There’s less cussin’ (this is broadcast, not Paramount+), but newbie Kayce might want to use a few swear words while navigating the complex team. There’s Montana native/former ATF agent Belle Skinner (Arielle Kebbel, Rescue HI-Surf) trying to hide her privileged roots; New Yorker Andrea Santos (Ash Santos, Mayor of Kingstown) hoping to one day avenge her cop dad’s murder; and Miles Kittle (Tatanka Means, Ransom Canyon), previously a Marine, who grapples with taking lives.
Kayce forms a special bond with Belle due to their similar backgrounds. “Immediately there’s an unspoken understanding,” Kebbel says. “She carries her well-known family’s secrets. She reads the room through him because she knows his instincts.”
Sometimes reading the room matters more than busting down doors (although there’s plenty of that!) in this series where “not everything is as it seems,” Kebbel says. One season-long unfolding mystery features a familiar Yellowstone face, Broken Rock chairman and Kayce’s blood brother, Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham), who returns with advisor Mo (Mo Brings Plenty). He’s in the crosshairs of what Hudnut calls “a dark force” related to his fight to stop a mining project on the reservation.
Anybody who goes after the tribal elder will have to reckon with Kayce. “Rainwater and Mo have become a surrogate family to him. We watch that relationship evolve and see a more personal side of Rainwater,” Hudnut says.
