Why Didn't Yellowstone's Kelsey Asbille Return For The Marshals Spinoff?

In "Yellowstone," Luke Grimes' character, Kayce Dutton, was married to Native American college instructor Monica Dutton, played by Kelsey Asbille. But if you look for familiar faces in the cast of the "Yellowstone" spinoff "Marshals," Asbille isn't one of them. It sounds like the timing and schedules just didn't work out for her to be on the show, but her absence helped inform what "Marshals" would become.

Showrunner and executive producer Spencer Hudnut revealed to The Hollywood Reporter in March 2026 that he was told that Asbille wouldn't be available while he, Sheridan, and others were brainstorming what a spinoff about Kayce might look like. Before learning this, they'd already decided that something significant would have to happen to Kayce to justify making a show about him since his ending on "Yellowstone" was a happy one.

Finding out that Asbille wasn't available "cleared up what that thing was for Kayce," Hudnut told The Hollywood Reporter. "It wasn't like Luke and I were sitting there saying, 'We should kill Monica.' It was more like, 'If she's not available for this, then what's the best way to move on from that character in the least exploitive way?'" The showrunners decided to write Monica off "Marshals" by having her die from cancer linked to toxic chemical exposure from the Broken Rock Reservation.

We haven't heard directly from Kelsey Asbille about not returning for "Marshals," but Luke Grimes has spoken out on the matter. Grimes talked to TV Insider in March 2026 about hearing the news: "It felt like, 'I don't even know what that would look like doing it without her, what that would feel like.' Kelsey's become one of my best friends. She's the coolest actor I've ever worked with. She's down to earth, sweet, and kind to every other actor and the crew."

Considering the close real-life relationship that Kelsey Asbille and Luke Grimes have outside of "Yellowstone," it was fitting that Grimes was the one to break the news to Asbille that she was going to be out of the show. "I didn't know how she was going to feel about it," Grimes told TV Insider. "I had to see how she was doing. We had a great conversation. In true Kelsey fashion, she handled it like a pro and totally understood." There were hints for fans that Asbille wasn't going to be a part of the show in the weeks before it aired. In a Season 1 trailer for "Marshals," Kayce says, "The only thing I ever wanted was taken from me," while a body is being covered up with a sheet at the same time.