Luke Grimes had to work up the “courage” to call his Yellowstone costar, Kelsey Asbille, after he learned what Marshals was doing with her character in the CBS spinoff. It was a shocking twist revealed in the Marshals series premiere on Sunday, March 1, one that explains why Monica Dutton has been absent from all trailers and promotional materials for the Kayce Dutton-centered series.
Grimes admitted that he was “heartbroken” about this plot to TV Insider. He also revealed how Asbille reacted to the news on their call. Asbille has not publicly commented on the Monica storyline as of the time of publication. (Warning: Spoilers for the Marshals series premiere ahead!).
In Marshals, with the Yellowstone Ranch behind him, Kayce joins an elite unit of U.S. Marshals, 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 first episode revealed that Monica, Kayce’s wife, died of cancer in the time between the end of Yellowstone and the beginning of Marshals. Given the age of their son, Tate Dutton (Brecken Merrill), not much time has passed between the plots of the two shows, so Monica must have gotten very sick, very fast. Tate was part of a protest demanding that no toxins be dumped into water sources on the Broken Rock reservation in the Marshals series premiere.
The toxins are causing higher cancer rates on the reservation, and it’s what killed Monica. Her final resting place was shown in the episode, and Kayce will continue to visit it throughout the season.
CBS
“I was heartbroken for myself and for [Kelsey],” Grimes told us of his reaction to learning the storyline. “It felt like, ‘I don’t even know what that would look like doing it without her, what that would feel like.’ Kelsey’s become one of my best friends. She’s the coolest actor I’ve ever worked with. She’s down to earth, sweet, and kind to every other actor and the crew.”
Grimes wasn’t the one to reveal the Monica twist to Asbille. He called her after the fact.
“I worked up the courage to call. I didn’t know how she was going to feel about it. I had to see how she was doing,” Grimes said.
The call ended up going well, despite Grimes’ fears.
“We had a great conversation,” he said. “In true Kelsey fashion, she handled it like a pro and totally understood. She’s going to do just fine. She is so talented, gorgeous, and awesome. She’s going to work. That’s not an issue.”
Grimes and Asbille played a couple for all of Yellowstone. Their characters’ primary plot revolved around their on-again, off-again relationship and the goings on in their little family as they struggled to decide between distancing themselves from the Dutton family legacy or embracing it.
Marshals, Sundays, 8/7c, CBS
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