How ‘Marshals’ Star Luke Grimes Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Kayce Dutton

Grimes plays Kayce Dutton, the son of John Dutton (Kevin Costner), a Montana landowner who goes to extreme measures to protect his dynasty on Taylor Sheridan’s insanely popular western drama — the most-watched show on linear television, a notable feat for a series airing on the Paramount Network, a channel otherwise known for episodes of “Bar Rescue” and weekend-long marathons of the Indiana Jones movies. In the show’s final years, it became besieged by offscreen drama as gripping as anything on screen, as embattled star Costner walked away from the series (and a lucrative paycheck), leaving the show in creative limbo as it scrambled to wrap up without its biggest draw.

The idea proposed to Grimes was this — his own spinoff that would follow Kayce in a new era of his life, dealing with personal tragedy and trying to figure out his place in the world, this time as part of an elite U.S. Marshals unit. (In the main series he was a former Navy SEAL who worked as a livestock agent and later Commissioner.) This could be the rare “brand extension” that allowed him to dig even further into a character that was clearly beloved by audiences.But Grimes wasn’t interested.“I actually didn’t think it would be a great idea,” Grimes said. “I think it was a mixture of being in the headspace I need to be in for that last episode and then the way the story ended for Kayce, I felt like was pretty perfect.”