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Yellowstone‘s spinoff Marshals hinted at Monica’s shocking death — but what signs were pointing to Kelsey Asbille‘s absence?

The hit Paramount Network series introduced Us to Kayce (Luke Grimes) and Monica (Asbille), who remained at the center of the show. After initially being a teacher at a local school on the Broken Rock Indian Reservation, Monica went on to become a professor at Montana State University while weathering life with Kayce, who moved them back to the Yellowstone Ranch while figuring out a past divide with dad John (Kevin Costner).

Following John’s death, Kayce, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, became the new owner and operator of the Yellowstone Ranch. Kayce and Monica ended the show alive — and together — before Marshals checked back in on them.

According to the official synopsis, Y: Marshals, which premieres March 1, follows Kayce as he leaves “ranching life behind to join an elite unit” of the U.S. Marshals while “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.”

Related: What Does Monica’s Absence From ‘Yellowstone’ Spinoff Mean? Drama Explained

Kayce Dutton is getting his own Yellowstone spinoff, but all anyone can talk about is about how his wife, Monica, is missing from Marshals. Yellowstone, which premiered in 2018, introduced viewers to the fictional Dutton family, who own the largest ranch in Montana. When the show debuted, Kayce (Luke Grimes) and Monica’s (Kelsey Asbille) marriage […]

In addition to Grimes, the show stars Arielle Kebbel, Ash Santos, Tatanka Means, Brett Cullen and Logan Marshall Green. The sneak peeks have shown Kayce discussing new beginnings, skeletons in his closet and past trauma — while Monica is nowhere to be found.

“We definitely wanted to make sure to give it a real story and make it interesting and make it believable,” Grimes told People in June 2025 about Marshals. “If it was just like, ‘Well, he’s happy’ — we’re just going to watch him be happy? That’s not very cool. But I’ll say this, the idea that was pitched to me is very, very good and very interesting and it really roped me in and I think it will rope the audience in as well.”

He continued: “There’s going to be some familiar faces. There’s going to be a lot of new faces too, so we’ll see how that all feels. To go back into it in a new set of circumstances is going to be kind of transition.”

Keep scrolling for every sign that Yellowstone fans should have been concerned about Monica’s future:

Kelsey Asbille’s Absence as Monica Despite the Focus on Kayce’s Family

The first trailer for the show showed a wedding ring on Kayce’s finger, which could hint that he is still married — or is a widower — following the events of the Yellowstone series finale. Asbille, for her part, wasn’t announced as a cast member on Marshals, didn’t appear in any promotional footage and hasn’t broken her silence about her future with the franchise.

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Related: Which ‘Yellowstone’ Alums Are — And Aren’t — Returning for ‘Marshals’?

CBS is expanding the Yellowstone universe with a spinoff centered around Kayce Dutton — but which alums are reprising their roles on the new show? Yellowstone, which premiered in 2018, introduced viewers to the fictional Dutton family, who own the largest ranch in Montana. After finding success on Paramount, creator Taylor Sheridan grew the Yellowstone […]

The Cryptic Statements About Kayce Dutton’s Next Chapter

If Asbille’s absence from all things Marshals wasn’t enough, the CBS series leaned into ominous messaging about Kayce’s state of mind.

“I fought every day to get out of the weight of Yellowstone. I’ve lost my teammates, my parents and even my brothers,” Kayce said in a sneak peek voiceover as clips showed him going to a makeshift grave for a loved one.

Kayce hinted that he wanted to start fresh. “Sometimes good men have to do bad things,” he added. “But I am trying to find a new beginning.”

In another clip, Kayce stated that the “only thing” he “ever wanted” was “taken” from him. His friend Pete (Green) is later seen doing a “wellness check” on Kayce, who has “demons to conquer” after an offscreen situation. Kayce offered another update on his personal life, saying, “Yellowstone is gone — same for most of my family.”

Hints at a Death in the ‘Marshals’ Trailers

While a scene in the Marshals sneak peek had Kayce and son Tate (Brecken Merrill) together, they were watching a body be covered up in their home. A moment at the end of the trailer showed Kayce with a woman — who was presumably meant to be Monica — in what seemed to be either a flashback or a dream sequence.

Editor’s note: The below contains major spoilers for Marshals Episode 1.

One of the biggest questions surrounding the CBS-based Yellowstone sequel spin-off, Marshals, has been the mysterious fate of Kelsey Asbille‘s Monica Dutton. The series’ official trailer made us question her place in the narrative, and the lack of an official statement from either the network or Luke Grimes himself has been confusing to say the least. Well, making good on the title of the series premiere, “Piya Wiconi” (which means “New Beginning” in Lakota), Marshals has revealed the hard truth that Monica is dead after a sudden battle with cancer. For Yellowstone fans, it undoubtedly comes as a bit of a shock, but perhaps we shouldn’t be too surprised. After all, Taylor Sheridan teased this years ago.

What Happens to Monica Dutton Between ‘Yellowstone’ and ‘Marshals’?

Image via Paramount Network

The season premiere of Marshals picks up 15 months after the series finale of Yellowstone, “Life Is a Promise.” In the episode, Kayce, Monica, and their son Tate (Brecken Merrill) are seen making a new life for themselves on the Yellowstone East Camp. Kayce and his family had settled there after losing their second son, who they named John Dutton in honor of Kevin Costner‘s character, and secured that patch of land (including the surrounding 5,000 acres) in the land deal made with the Broken Rock Indian Reservation. In giving his family’s home to Monica’s people, this Dutton trio were able to live their lives in compromise, being a “bridge” of sorts between the Dutton’s longtime stewardship of the land and its inevitable return, which was prophesied by Lakota Chief Spotted Eagle (Graham Greene) at the end of 1883. But just because Taylor Sheridan gave Kayce, Monica, and Tate a happy ending doesn’t mean that’s how life always turns out.

In the time between Yellowstone and Marshals, Monica contracted a form of cancer that was seemingly caused by toxins that were dumped on the Rez. As the show explains it, many of these toxins have been infused into the Broken Rock water supply and soil, and, over time, have affected the Native peoples. So, when Marshals reveals that the proposed mine being built on Montana land just outside the reservation will be dumping more toxins into the water supply by way of the river, we can understand why Tate, Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham), Mo (Mo Brings Plenty), and many others go to protest. Although we don’t see Monica’s battle with cancer firsthand, we can tell by the 15-month timeline — and from Tate’s comments to his father — that it was a quick and sudden decline in health. Within a short window, Monica wasted away and died, and the premiere’s opening, with Kayce alone in bed, proves that it’s still relatively recent — so recent, in fact, that Kayce and Tate are still actively struggling with this “new normal.”

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Although it’s not exactly a secret that Monica was Yellowstone‘s most misused character, we had previously hoped that Marshals could correct this by giving her more to do now that Kayce was taking a job with the U.S. Marshals. Those hopes, however, proved false. Monica is killed off-screen before we have the chance to catch up with Kayce’s new post-Yellowstone life. That happy ending they believed they had found proved not so happy after all, and only her image is seen when Tate holds up a picture of his mother while protesting the mine. On the bright side, at least Marshals doesn’t leave us hanging. The show minces no words in regard to Monica’s fate, and Kayce’s final moments at her gravestone in the pilot prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it hasn’t been faked or otherwise concealed. Monica is dead, and according to Marshals, there’s no mystery as to how she died.

‘Marshals’ Is Exploring a New Path for Kayce Dutton by Embracing a ‘Yellowstone’ Prophecy

But longtime Yellowstone fans may have seen this coming. After all, it’s not like Taylor Sheridan doesn’t already have a history of killing off major characters in the opening episode of each new show. Even though Sheridan isn’t leading the charge on Marshals (former SEAL Team leader Spencer Hudnut is responsible for this show), that doesn’t appear to be a factor here. Frankly, any self-respecting Yellowstone fan should’ve seen this coming, if they’ve been paying close attention to Kayce’s story arc in the last few seasons of the flagship neo-Western drama. Back in the Season 4 finale, “Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops,” Kayce has a dark vision of the future that comes with the ghostly return of his dead brother Lee (Dave Annable). When Kayce and Monica speak of it later, the Dutton heir reveals that he saw “the end of us.” Talk about a bad omen.

While there was some debate as to the meaning of this vision, most settled on the fact that “end of us” simply meant the end of the Dutton family as Yellowstone had presented them. With the death of his father and brother Jamie (Wes Bentley), and the selling of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, isn’t that enough? Marshals would have you believe otherwise. In the Yellowstone Season 5 episode “The Dream Is Not Me,” Kayce continues to interpret this vision. “In my vision, the choice that I saw was between this place and you,” Kayce tells her. While Monica believes that East Camp wasn’t a part of that vision, thinking that they may be able to have both the land and each other in the end, Marshals proves that Kayce’s instincts were correct. In the end, the choice to remain with the land, even if a small part of it, tilted the scales toward personal tragedy, inadvertently leading to Kayce’s new beginning on Marshals.

The Actor Awards are being handed out in Hollywood tonight, as SAG-AFTRA honors its members for their outstanding work. Kristen Bell hosted tonight’s festivities, which she has done two times before. And while many awards recognize individual actors for their performances, the Actor Awards also acknowledge the best ensembles of the year. This year’s Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series went to AppleTV’s Hollywood satire The Studio.

The Studio‘s ensemble includes Ike Barinholtz, Kathryn Hahn, Seth Rogen, and Chase Sui Wonders. It also means that the late Catherine O’Hara will be awarded posthumously; earlier in the evening, O’Hara also won the Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series, beating out castmate Hahn. Star and creator Rogen also took home Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Comedy Series, triumphing over co-star Barinholtz. The Studio, which debuted its first season last year and has been renewed for a second, beat out comedy heavyweights and previous Actor Award winners Abbott Elementary, The Bear, and Only Murders in the Building, as well as Hacks, which has been nominated three times but has yet to notch a victory.

Who Were the Nominees for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series?

It was a murderer’s row of nominees this year, with three past winners and one three-time nominee, but it was ultimately The Studio, which has also claimed a truckload of Emmys and Golden Globes in its inaugural season, that stood triumphant. The other nominated ensembles were:

Abbott Elementary – Quinta Brunson, William Stanford Davis, Janelle James, Chris Perfetti, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lisa Ann Walter, and Tyler James Williams

The Bear – Lionel Boyce, Liza Colón-Zayas, Ayo Edebiri, Abby Elliott, Edwin Lee Gibson, Corey Hendrix, Andrew Lopez, Matty Matheson, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Oliver Platt, Sarah Ramos, Ricky Staffieri, and Jeremy Allen White

Hacks – Rose Abdoo, Dan Bucatinsky, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Paul W. Downs, Hannah Einbinder, Mark Indelicato, Jean Smart, Megan Stalter, and Michaela Watkins

Only Murders in the Building – Michael Cyril Creighton, Beanie Feldstein, Jermaine Fowler, Selena Gomez, Jackie Hoffman, Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Dianne Wiest

This is the 32nd time the Actor Awards have been handed out, but it’s the first time under their new name; they were previously known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards. The name has been controversial with SAG-AFTRA’s membership, who did not vote on the change.

Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

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Release Date

March 25, 2025

Network

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Apple TV+

Writers

Peter Huck

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