When CBS’s 2025-2026 slate returns in the new year, we’ll finally get to see the premiere of Kayce’s Yellowstone spinoff, Y: Marshals. The show promises to bring the Dutton into a job that lets him use the skills he picked up in the military, and I’m hoping that means we’ll get to see more of his past in it, too. A year ago, Luke Grimes told me that’s also something he’d like to see explored more, and after seeing new footage for the show that will continue Kayce’s story, I’m thinking a lot about those comments.
So, while Y: Marshals won’t premiere on the 2025 TV schedule, the upcoming Yellowstone show is well on its way to us and will hit our screens in early 2026. To get fans hyped about that, ET dropped an exclusive preview of this spinoff series. Take a look:
In the video, Kayce says he’s “changing paths to find a new beginning.” However, it’s clear that his new job will also tap into the skillset he acquired while he was in the military. So, that got me thinking about a conversation I had with Grimes about flashbacks and Kayce’s history that we never saw during Yellowstone.
In 2024, before Season 5B of Yellowstone came out, I interviewed Luke Grimes about a campaign he was doing with Carhartt; however, I also talked to him a lot about the final episodes of Taylor Sheridan’s hit. Since I had been watching 1883 and 1923, I was thinking a lot about the Dutton family tree and the flashbacks we get to see of the family history in the flagship show. So, I asked Grimes what he’d like to see if Kayce’s past was to be explored more, and in response, he told me:
I think the more interesting thing with Kayce would be probably his time overseas in the Special Forces. I think that’s, you know, clearly, that’s something he deals with, and it’s been very hard for him. Obviously, [he’s] got PTSD, and it’s been brought up a lot in the show, and just kind of delving into that more might be kind of interesting. You see what happened to him over there, and why he is the way he is.
I’ve also always wanted to see this side of Kayce’s past, and I was bummed it never got shown in Yellowstone. However, it sounds like Y: Marshals could dive into Grimes’ character’s past, as the synopsis says his new job with the U.S. Marshals will be “combining his skills as a cowboy and Navy SEAL to bring justice to Montana.”
During my conversation with the actor, we touched on the fact that we really don’t get to see much of Kayce’s backstory in Yellowstone. While Rip and Beth got tons of flashbacks, the younger Dutton got almost none, as Grimes explained:
I think the only real backstory thing was when his mother died. So clearly, from a very young age, it’s just been a lot of hardship. You know, I think he has a really good heart wrapped up in a really hard life.
Over the course of the flagship show, which you can stream with a Peacock subscription, we heard about Kayce’s military past often. However, we never got to see it or learn any details about it.
It seems like Y: Marshals, which will air on CBS and be available to stream with a Paramount+ subscription, has the potential to change that. So, I’d guess, based on the conversation I had with Luke Grimes over a year ago, he’s thrilled about the potential to explore more of Kayce’s story, just like I am.