CBS
Spoiler alert: This article reveals a key event in the series premiere of CBS’ “Yellowstone” spin-off “Marshals.”
It was the question on every “Yellowstone” fan’s mind leading up to the March 1 premiere of “Marshals”: What happened to Monica?
After all, “Marshals” reunites viewers with Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) and his son Tate (Brecken Merrill), yet Kayce’s wife Monica (Kelsey Asbille) has been completely M.I.A. from all casting announcements. Fans began to fear the worst when the trailer for “Marshals” implied that Kayce was going to suffer yet another life-altering loss, one which would set him on the path to becoming a U.S. Marshal. Would that loss turn out to be Monica? And how was the show going to write out such a pivotal character from “Yellowstone”?
We finally got our answer in the “Marshals” series premiere, which confirmed that Monica died after a valiant battle with cancer. “The best part of me died with you,” Kayce tells Monica when he visits her grave at the end of the show’s first hour. “You always told me to fight for the life I want, but the life I wanted was with you. I’m trying to find a new path, a new beginning for me and Tate.”
The mystery surrounding Monica’s exit has finally been solved, but the show only tells us what happened to her. For the why, TVLine turns to “Marshalls” showrunner Spencer Hudnut to explain the thought process behind Kayce’s latest loss. Read on for his full answer.
Monica died because Kayce ‘needed to be shaken out of’ his happy ending
CBS
As “Marshals” showrunner Spencer Hudnut explains to TVLine, Monica’s death wasn’t always part of the show’s DNA, meaning that “Marshals” wasn’t originally pitched as a drama about a U.S. Marshal who recently lost his wife. Instead, her death came from a need to blow up Kayce’s life and set him on a new path.
“Kayce had such a perfect ending in ‘Yellowstone,'” Hudnut tells TVLine. “His dreams had finally come true. As we were trying to figure out how to tell the next chapter in Kayce’s story, it felt like he really needed to be shaken out of that. Unfortunately, tragedy tends to find Kayce, so something bad was going to happen for him one way or the other. It just sort of played out that it was going to be Monica.”
But the “Marshals” showrunners never intended for Monica’s death to merely be a jumping off point for Kayce’s new life. Hudnut says it’s important to everyone involved that Monica’s spirit be kept alive, even continuing to play a role in her husband and son’s futures.
“To me, Monica is really guiding Kayce through this first episode, trying to help him find his new path,” Hudnut says. “And if you actually break it down, Tate is at that rally to honor his mother, and Kayce goes there to protect Tate. So if not for Monica, Kayce never would have been in that position and may not have found this path. We really wanted to be respectful of the way that we said goodbye to her. I also didn’t want to step on the ending of ‘Yellowstone,’ because what they had was a beautiful ending. Unfortunately, real life intervened.”
Monica could still make a ‘satisfying’ appearance on Marshals someday
CBS
Monica may be dead and buried, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll never see actress Kelsey Asbille on “Marshals.” As showrunner Spencer Hudnut tells TVLine, “This is a show that would have that opportunity,” reminding us that “Kayce went on some ‘journeys’ on ‘Yellowstone.’ He did some time in the sweat lodge.”
In other words, it’s entirely possible that Asbille could reprise her role, either as a hallucination of Kayce’s, or in a “flashback” to an unseen moment between Kayce and his late wife.
“I don’t want to guarantee anything, but it’s definitely not off the table,” Hudnut says. “I think it would be really satisfying to see them back together.” He also reminds us, “I’ve worked on another show where we may have brought back a deceased spouse,” referring to CBS’ “S.W.A.T.,” on which Hudnut served as showrunner. So there’s a precedent!
For now, we’ll have to settle for the brief shot of Monica that was used in the premiere. “Kelsey was so generous allowing us to use her image in the first episode,” Hudnut says of that fleeting moment. “We wouldn’t have done that without her permission.”
Raising Tate as a single father is a ‘big part of Kayce’s journey’ on Marshals
CBS
And then there’s the Tate of it all. Kayce and Monica’s son (played by Brecken Merrill) is now 17, “so he’s knocking on the door of becoming a Dutton man, which is a little terrifying for Kayce,” showrunner Spencer Hudnut tells TVLine.
Raising Tate as a single father is going to be a “big part of Kayce’s journey this season,” Hudnut adds, explaining that “Kayce was always involved in Tate’s life with Monica, but I think he saw himself as Tate’s provider and protector, while Monica maybe carried more of the parenting duties. Without her, he has really had to step up. … In the pilot, Kayce says the only thing crueler than losing a parent is losing the wrong one. He really feels that Tate was done a disservice. He would have been better off if Kayce had been the one who passed away.”
Through his single fatherhood, “Marshals” is also “continuing to examine how Kayce feels about himself,” Hudnut says. “Monica was the one person who Kayce always felt, if she believed in him, then he could believe in himself.”
In a nutshell, Kayce’s parenting woes are two-fold: “Not only is Kayce trying to make sure that Tate doesn’t walk in his footsteps, but Kayce is also trying to make sure that he doesn’t walk in [his own father’s] footsteps.” Can he break the cycle? Stay tuned!
Kayce’s teammates’ secrets will be revealed throughout the season
CBS
Kayce’s new path makes itself clear when he receives a surprise visit from his old SEAL buddy Cal (Logan Marshall-Green), with whom he served in Afghanistan. Kayce is reluctant to accept Cal’s invitation to join his elite team of U.S. Marshals, but he agrees to assist with the capturing of several fugitives near the Dutton property — especially when he learns that these particular fugitives were preying on reservation women.
This first mission introduces Kayce to his new team members: Andrea (Ash Santos), Miles (Tatanka Means), and Belle (Arielle Kebbel), the last of whom is “a little bit of a control freak,” showrunner Spencer Hudnut tells TVLine. “And there’s a reason for that, which we will unpack throughout the season.”
Of course, Belle is hardly the only member of the team with a complicated backstory. As Hudnut points out, “early on in the pilot, Cal talks about all of the demons he’s had, which included pills — so when we see him taking some pills at the end of the pilot, that’s maybe a red flag.”
OK, your turn to talk: Did you enjoy the first episode of “Marshals”? How do you feel about the show’s decision to kill off Monica? And as glad as you are to have so many familiar faces back, which of the new characters is your early favorite? Grade the premiere in our poll below, then drop a comment with your full review of the “Yellowstone” spin-off.
