Luke Grimes: “To make Marshals, we had to break the happy ending of Yellowstone”

Kayce Dutton now has her own series, a cop show very different from the original family drama. His interpreter tells us why we had to convince him that it was a good idea.

FIRST: You hesitated to come back. Did you feel like Kayce’s story was over at the end of Yellowstone?
Luke Grimes: I felt like the ending we showed was the ending Kayce had been chasing all this time. In the last episode, he finally has what he always wanted to have. He ended up breaking away from this hellish family heritage and creating his own family. They were very beautiful scenes to film. And while we were filming that, people came to ask me if I wanted to do a procedural (a series of police investigations, Editor’s note) around Kayce. I must say that I didn’t quite see how. For me, his story was over. I had to convince myself that it was worth it. When they explained to me what they had in mind, I changed my mind.

Despite deconstructing this happy ending at the end of Yellowstone?
Yes, it’s true that it’s risky, but without that, there was no story. You can’t just watch someone be happy on TV. It doesn’t work. A drama is a drama because there is drama. So he had to break this perfect life that he had built for himself at the end of Yellowstone. I wasn’t very keen at first I must say… I wanted to leave him alone! But hey, I ended up missing Kayce and I got carried away by the idea of ​​a return.

“I don’t really want him to fall in love after Monica. But…”

So the tragedy is that Monica, his wife (played by Kelsey Asbille in Yellowstone), is killed off-camera. What was your first reaction to this idea?
I thought it was a horrible idea. Very selfishly. As Luke Grimes, because Kelsey (Asbille) and I are very close. In Yellowstone, Kayce’s entire story was tied to Monica’s. He didn’t really have an independent arc. They had a Romeo and Juliet romance. So I didn’t know if it would be possible to do something with Kayce without her. But in a way, maybe killing her was also the only way to give her something else. It is also told how he finds the strength to live without her. This is the background of Marshals.

To what extent is the Kayce we see in Marshals not the same as the one in Yellowstone?
Of course he has changed. He was forced to grow, to evolve. Now he has this ranch to manage, this new job as marshal and his role as a single father. He must manage to juggle all this without the love of his life and find the strength to move forward despite everything, to open up to other people too, which is a good thing…

…And potentially a new love story?
Instinctively, I would like to answer no. I don’t really want him to fall in love after Monica. But we’re in a TV series. There is the studio, the channel. And they obviously want the lead to be in a romantic situation. Because that’s what people want to see. So I think we will have to go through that at one point or another. But I would like it to wait a little longer. Because the more we leave that hanging, the more we pay homage to his love story with Monica. But it will happen eventually, of course.

“It’s a nice change from Yellowstone, where I had to cry on a stoop all the time”

Marshals completely changes tone from Yellowstone. It’s less of a drama and more of a cop show. Did you approach it as a total break?
For me, as an actor, it doesn’t change much, except that I’m playing with a completely different cast. Otherwise, it’s still Kayce Dutton. Afterwards, there’s a lot more action. It’s an action series. But it’s nice. It’s a nice change from Yellowstone, where I had to cry on a porch all the time (laughs).

Where is the Marshals series filmed?
We’re filming in Utah, near Park City, and not in Montana. This is where we filmed the first three seasons of Yellowstone, before moving production to Montana. It’s an incredible place. It’s great to be back there. Shooting in these settings really infuses the performance. We could have filmed elsewhere and added the mountains behind in CGI… I already did that once! But it really doesn’t give the same thing. We don’t feel the same energy. You can’t feel the biting cold of the morning. I really love this environment. Besides, I live in Montana myself now. I am convinced that this is the secret ingredient of Yellowstone, which made the series so popular.

Can Yellowstone fans find themselves in Marshals?
It’s a very different series. And people need to know that before they watch it. Yellowstone was a melodrama, a reflection on family, with a slow pace, where people reflect, philosophize about life. Marshals is really an action series, much more energetic. We try to keep a little of the spirit of Yellowstone, but it’s really something else.

In what sense is there still the spirit of Yellowstone in Marshals?
Through Kayce already. And then he still lives on the reservation. There is still a whole part of history that concerns Native Americans. And finally, the great American West is still there. He was almost a character in his own right from Yellowstone and we find these landscapes, these mountains, in Marshals.

Season 1 of Marshals is currently broadcast on Paramount + in France and also available via MyCanal.