Entertainment
‘Marshals’ Star Breaks Down That Brutal Cal and Belle Cliffhanger and Teases a “Massive” Season 2 Premiere
Editor’s note: The following contains spoilers for the Marshals Season 1 finale.
Summary
In the season finale of the CBS series Marshals, entitled “Wolves at the Door,” an assassination attempt against Broken Rock Chairman Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) leads Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) to step in, literally bringing the danger to his own doorstep. With the stakes higher than ever, the team works to uncover the truth of who’s behind the attack and what their goal is. As Cal (Logan Marshall-Green) works on figuring out the next steps in his cancer diagnosis, which he’s only revealed to fellow teammate Belle (Arielle Kebbel), the two are blindsided in a moment that we’ll have to wait until Season 2 for answers.
Collider recently got the opportunity to chat one-on-one with Marshall-Green about that shocking cliffhanger. During the interview, he discussed how much the series has evolved since the start of the season, getting to dig into Cal and Kayce’s past, how Double G (Riley Green) may be gone but he won’t be forgotten, wanting to keep Dre (Ash Santos) from leaving the team, the dynamic between Cal and his daughter (Morgan Lindholm), the deeper connection with Belle, his love of a good cliffhanger, and that Season 2 will return with a big premiere episode. Marshall-Green also talked about his experience working on The Odyssey for director Christopher Nolan and what it’s been like to see the reaction to the trailer.
Collider: I spoke to you at the start of this season, and it feels like these characters have taken quite a journey since then.
LOGAN MARSHALL-GREEN: Yeah, it’s a different show at this point.
Cal Has Been on a Journey of Redemption in Season 1 of the CBS Series ‘Marshals’
“The show really did start in a certain direction, but if you kept watching the show, you quickly realized we’re moving at a much different tempo and direction now.”
Being a Dutton haunts Kayce, but Cal is possibly even more haunted by his own past. Do you feel like, regardless of whatever happens in that last moment, whether Cal and Belle got shot or whatever happened there, that Cal is in a better place by the end of the season, as far as sorting through some things that had been bothering him?
MARSHALL-GREEN: I do. I think that there are a few moments of redemption for him that he has to carry throughout the season – one with his daughter, one with Kayce, and one with Double G. That’s the lovely part of the writing. The show really did start in a certain direction, but if you kept watching the show, you quickly realized we’re moving at a much different tempo and direction now. Just when you see Cal smile and find some peace with someone else, in this case Belle, he gets a shotgun in his face.
The latter portion of the season dug deeper into Kayce’s past, but also into the past of everyone on the team, including Cal. How did learning more about what happened previously with the Four Musketeers give you a better understanding of who Cal is now? What did that add to the dynamic with Cal and Kayce? How was it to have Garrett come in as a character, but to also work with Riley Green?
MARSHALL-GREEN: Really, in the end, Kayce was the odd man out. You start hearing about the Four Musketeers, and Roner (Jay Reeves) starts haunting the show. And then, upon finally landing in this non-linear episode where you get to go back and revisit Afghanistan, you realize very quickly that Kayce was led astray by Cal holding onto this secret for Double G’s benefit. As he said, he’d already lost Roner. He’s already lost one brother, and there’s no need to lose another. Knowing that he had to be strong so that Double G could survive and really take it on the chin from Kayce throughout the season about Roner really shows Cal’s hutzpah and his ability to lead a team through whatever gantlet it is. I was really happy to finally get there, and to finally get him some redemption. Riley Green was terrific casting, by the team and by Luke [Grimes]. I was really happy to see Riley so effortlessly inhabit this incredibly hard character, who’s going through real trauma. I thought he did a great job.
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Cal is able to resolve some of these things between him and Kayce, but they don’t get that moment with Garrett before he dies. Do you think that will ultimately affect Cal more deeply because he never had that conversation, or do you think it helps that Kayce now knows that truth about what happened?
MARSHALL-GREEN: In the end, we’ll never know because Double G isn’t around anymore. I think you will definitely feel Double G’s presence and spirit on this show in Season 2, from the little I know. As much as we don’t get to have that camaraderie again, now that it’s understood, with Double G’s passing, he’s relieved of a lot of his own demons and finally finds some peace, albeit in the worst way, which is death. There is a moment that I actually had to fight for on the day. And it was written. It’s not something I came up with. It’s something Spencer [Hudnut] and the writers came up with. And I haven’t seen the show, so maybe this moment isn’t even in the show, but there was a moment, which was the last moment between Cal and Double G.
s it was written, it was just a little fist bump, with his hands all bandaged. We were running and gunning. It’s not anything against the director or writers on the day, but we were moving really quickly past that moment, where it wasn’t even needed. It almost felt like it might be comical with this hand all bandaged. I don’t know if the moment is even in the show because I haven’t seen it, but I felt that it was incredibly important, given what I knew was about to happen with his death, that two brothers and soldiers finally connect and allow each other in one last time. I thought Riley did a great job with that moment, given the state he was in. I hope it played. Maybe it didn’t. But it was an important moment for me to have that last connection, physically and intimately, as a brother. It seemed silly on the page. They give a fist bump. But it echoes now, much more deeply.
Cal has a moment in the car with Cruz when he tells her that she might be running the team sooner than she thinks. Does Cal see her as a leader? Does he think she’d be the best one to step in and lead the team if need be?
MARSHALL-GREEN: Absolutely, 100%. Dre is a born leader. Dre has bailed Cal out on many turns. While he is saying the truth, because of this secret he’s holding on to, which is cancer, he is also trying to get her to stay. He’s disappointed and pissed that she would leave this team at this stage. He understands and he gets it. Nothing is forever. But I think there’s also a little bit of manipulation there.
Why doesn’t he just tell her that he wants her to stay on the team and not leave? Does he feel like it’s better to leave her to make that choice?
MARSHALL-GREEN: I think he knows Dre. Dre is driven. When Dre wants something, she goes and gets it. That’s why she’s our interrogator. He also knew that if he went after her, she would just push away more. He knew who he was dealing with. She’s got so much pride as he does.
According to Logan Marshall-Green, Cal’s Biggest Objective in ‘Marshals’ Is To Get Close to His Daughter
“I’ve loved those scenes with Morgan [Lindholm], who plays Maddie, my daughter.”
What does it mean to Cal to have his daughter sit down next to him and be willing to talk to him, and even call him dad? As much as he wants to talk to her, is he more worried that he’ll screw that up?
MARSHALL-GREEN: I don’t think he was ready for it. When actors talk about objectives and super objectives, that’s Cal’s super objective. It’s to be a marshal. It’s not to solve crimes. Cal’s super objective on the show was to move to Montana and use this opportunity as a marshal to get close and reconnect with his estranged daughter. When you get to finally have a super objective filled, it’s incredibly rewarding. I’ve loved those scenes with Morgan [Lindholm], who plays Maddie, my daughter. Those are very heavy scenes, due to the situation that they’re both in.
What is the conversation that you think he would like to have with his daughter that he doesn’t feel like he can have yet?
MARSHALL-GREEN: I think he wants to listen to her. As much as a conversation is two-sided, I think he just wants to listen and be the dad that he couldn’t because he was too busy being a soldier. I think he just wants to listen to her and hear everything that she’s done and hear everything that she’s still angry about with him. I think he just wants an opportunity for her to finally tell her story to him.
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Why do you think he’s really only opened up to Belle about his health and about what he’s going through? What is it about her that allows him to have conversations with her that he doesn’t really have with other people?
MARSHALL-GREEN: First, booze.
That’ll do it.
MARSHALL-GREEN: Yeah. The exhaustion of carrying it all for so long, carrying the secret of Roner, the secret of his daughter, and all of these crimes that they’re fighting, these children that they’re fighting for. She helps him navigate his own child, with Maddie. The character that Arielle [Kebbel] has created in Belle, she has her own stuff, and stuff that she hasn’t even told him. It’s not actually so reciprocal. It’s a lot of Cal unloading on her. She, in a way, puts herself in that position to potentially maybe allow Cal in. But as far as his ability to tell anyone, he has real admiration for her and her strength and, more than anything, her as a mom and how she’s prioritized her child in a way he couldn’t.
Without so many words, they clearly understand that anything happening between them would be messy. How does Cal feel about messy? Is he okay with messy? Would he rather avoid messy?
MARSHALL-GREEN: He does not want to be messy. I can tell you that, for sure. He does not want the mess that follows, but I don’t know if he can keep his hand out of the cookie jar. There are pros and cons. I don’t know what’s messier when it comes to messing up work, an interpersonal relationship or cancer. I think he is choosing stability through cancer. In the end, it’s going to get messy no matter what for him, and I think he sees that on the horizon. He’s going to need someone to help him.
He seems like the king of avoidance at the moment.
MARSHALL-GREEN: Well, a lot of these men are – these men and women that come back. We build these soldiers up and we spend a lot of money in advanced ways to create warriors, but we have very little in the way of infrastructure to create humans once they’re done. It’s not just Cal. It’s a lot of these men and women.
‘Marshals’ Star Logan Marshall-Green Loves a Good Finale Cliffhanger
“There’s a team happening, and they’re going to move forward together, and then they get shotguns in their face.”
We’re left with quite a cliffhanger with Cal and Belle. What was your reaction to that moment? How do you feel about cliffhangers? Have you been told anything about what will happen after that moment, in Season 2?
MARSHALL-GREEN: I love a cliffhanger because it means, more than likely, we’re going to be back. I liked it because you get this moment of levity between the two of them and some hope. There’s a team happening, and they’re going to move forward together, and then they get shotguns in their face, as is the case with these kinds of shows. As much as there’s a cliffhanger for me, the biggest cliffhanger is going on with the other stories – whether Dre is going to stay and, more than anything, Kayce and his son.
It feels like everybody has a cliffhanger at the end of this season.
MARSHALL-GREEN: There’s a lot going on.
I’m curious to see what happens with Season 2 and where it will all go next.
MARSHALL-GREEN: Yeah, me too. We’re just about to start shooting the first episode, and we’re already shot out of a cannon again. It’s a massive first episode.
And who knows, you might just be a ghost in Season 2.
MARSHALL-GREEN: You’ll have to tune in.
Logan Marshall-Green Was Surrounded by Artists at the Top of Their Game on Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’
“I’m somebody who comes to set, I clock in, and there’s no phone in my hand, whether I’m on a Nolan set or not.”
If you want to have a filmmaking experience, you can certainly accomplish that by working with Christopher Nolan. Because you’re an actor and director, what did you take from that experience? What did you absorb on set with him for The Odyssey?
MARSHALL-GREEN: More than anything, I absorbed that it’s hard to ever hear someone say, “It can’t be done.” When it comes to being on a Nolan set, everywhere you look, Christopher surrounds himself with the highest of high artists. Everywhere you look, you see departments at the highest degree of telling stories and creation and art, even down to the way he wants the lightning to strike and when it strikes. He’s in control of that. Looking around, many of the actors had already worked with him, and some hadn’t. It was great to just watch and take cues. I’m somebody who comes to set, I clock in, and there’s no phone in my hand, whether I’m on a Nolan set or not. It was an incredible opportunity that was given to me, to help him tell this incredible story. The fun part is watching everybody get their panties in a bundle over the trailer. Nobody knows anything. It just goes to show that nobody knows anything. In Nolan, I trust, for sure.
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Christopher Nolan strikes me as a filmmaker who spends time on the details.
MARSHALL-GREEN: I can’t speak for Christopher Nolan, nor am I going to try, but I can tell you that when it comes to a lot of these auteurs that I’ve worked with, especially with film but also with TV, it’s the frame. It’s who’s in the frame. It’s about what’s in the frame. It’s the light. It’s the paint. Is it interesting? Is it beautiful? Is it balanced? Is it deep? But by the way, once they get a really cool shot, they’re just like kids. They just want to make great stories. They’re not looking to be political. They’re looking to make a beautiful frame that is going to elevate storytelling.
Marshals airs on CBS and is available to stream on Paramount+.
- Release Date
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2026 – 2026
- Showrunner
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Spencer Hudnut
- Writers
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Spencer Hudnut, Tom Mularz, Dana Greenblatt
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