What To Know
Luke Grimes talks about the careful and respectful approach to developing Kayce Dutton’s new romantic storyline in Marshals following Monica Dutton’s death.
Kayce has begun to cautiously explore dating in the Yellowstone spinoff, while the show also introduces budding romances among other characters.
Grimes reveals if Kelsey Asbille has watched Marshals.
Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) is starting the slow process of moving on after the death of his longtime love, Monica (Kelsey Asbille), in Marshals. The Yellowstone spinoff revealed Monica’s tragic fate in the series premiere: She died of cancer in the time between the end of Yellowstone and the beginning of Marshals. Monica’s been dead for one year in the new CBS drama, and Kayce is slowly starting to warm up to the idea of dating. Grimes opened up to us about this delicate storyline at CBS Fest on Wednesday, April 15.
“That was something that I wanted to approach very carefully,” he told Swooon on the red carpet of the Los Angeles event. “I had a feeling that if we did it too fast, fans of the original show would be very upset, and it just didn’t feel right.”
He said that Kayce and Monica’s Yellowstone love story was too profound to be anything but careful with how the next chapter of Kayce’s story is told. There’s also their teenage son, Tate (Brecken Merrill), to worry about, and he has not taken kindly to the idea of Kayce failing to honor Monica since her death.
Kayce has gone on two dates as of Episode 7, both of them unplanned and with the same woman, Dolly (Ellyn Jameson). However, Andrea (Ash Santos) showed a glimmer of romantic interest in Kayce at the end of that episode, hinting that a potential love story could blossom there. The same episode featured a kiss between coworkers Cal (Logan Marshall-Green) and Belle (Arielle Kebbel), and a new spark between Miles (Tatanka Means) and bartender Maddie (Morgan Lindholm), Cal’s daughter.
Grimes told Swooon that Kayce will need to have a new relationship at some point in the Yellowstone spinoff.
“It’s hard to have the lead of a show not have some sort of romantic thing going on,” he said, “but we’re taking our time with it. Hopefully, down the road at some point, when it feels right, he can have something like that in his life again.”
The actor said they’ve talked about Kayce finding love again “a lot” behind the scenes of the drama, which scored an early Season 2 renewal.
“There’s a lot of talk because we wanted to honor it correctly and approach it the right way,” Grimes explained. “In the original show, Kayce and Monica were basically Romeo and Juliet, and it’s hard. You want to make sure that you do that the right way and honor the relationship that they had before you start moving on.”
As previously reported by TV Insider, Grimes called Asbille when he learned of Monica’s fate to make sure she was OK. Now, he’s not sure if she has watched the spinoff yet.
“I don’t think so,” he admitted at CBS Fest. “She’s a good friend of mine, and we keep in touch, but I haven’t asked her if she’s watched the show.”
Grimes did say that “there’s probably a good chance” that viewers will see other Yellowstone stars on Marshals: “That’s been something we’ve talked about as well.”