‘Marshals’: What Did You Think of Monica’s Fate? (POLL)

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Marshals series premiere.]

The Marshals series premiere finally answered the burning question about Monica Dutton’s (Kelsey Asbille) whereabouts. The Yellowstone character’s absence in all preview materials stuck out like a sore thumb, and now viewers might be a little sore after learning the reason why she’s not in the Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) spinoff.

In Marshals, with the Yellowstone Ranch behind him, Kayce joins an elite unit of U.S. Marshals, 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.

Grimes reprises his role from Yellowstone, along with Brecken Merrill as Kayce and Monica’s son, Tate Dutton. Gil Birmingham and Mo Brings Plenty are the other two Yellowstone stars in the CBS series. We previously theorized that Monica’s absence from the trailers and cast list meant that Monica was being killed off in Marshals. Sadly, we were right.

Marshals Episode 1 revealed that Tate was participating in a protest over toxins being dumped into water sources on the Broken Rock reservation in Montana. It was causing high cancer rates among the reservation’s population, and Monica suffered that fate. She died of cancer, and Tate said in the episode that she “suffered.” After everything that Kayce and Monica went through in Yellowstone, it’s a heartbreaking ending for the character. Grimes and Marshals creator Spencer Hudnut explained the creative decision to us.

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“Kayce and Monica had such a beautiful ending [in] Yellowstone so when I first met with Luke, he was like, ‘Kayce’s really happy. Are we going to make a show about a guy who’s really happy?’” Hudnut told TV Insider. “We had to shake up his life, to get him off the ranch and into a new position.”

Grimes said it was a tough pill to swallow, and he called Asbille to make sure she was doing OK after he learned the news.

“I was heartbroken for myself and for [Kelsey]. It felt like, ‘I don’t even know what that would look like doing it without her, what that would feel like,'” Grimes said. “Kelsey’s become one of my best friends.”

“I worked up the courage to call. I didn’t know how she was going to feel about it. I had to see how she was doing,” Grimes added. “We had a great conversation. In true Kelsey fashion, she handled it like a pro and totally understood. She’s going to do just fine. She is so talented, gorgeous, and awesome. She’s going to work. That’s not an issue.”

We want to know what you think of the decision. Was Marshals right to kill off Monica Dutton? Cast your vote in the poll below.

Marshals, Sundays, 8/7c, CBS