How ‘Marshals’ Star Mo Brings Plenty’s Family Tragedy Inspired Episode

A tragic incident in the life of actor Mo Brings Plenty, who plays Mo, Chairman Rainwater’s (Gil Birmingham) right hand man and blood brother to Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes), inspired the Sunday, November 15, episode of Marshals.

In 2024, the coroner ruled out foul play in the death of the actor’s nephew, Cole Brings Plenty, who appeared in another Taylor Sheridan franchise series, 1923. The family disagreed with that conclusion.

“Before pursuing it, I spoke with Mo to see if he’d be comfortable with portraying the story and he was welcoming to the idea,” says executive producer Spencer Hudnut, who’d long ago had the idea that a former teammate of Kayce’s would die in a mysterious way and Kayce would have to prove it was murder, not suicide. “We changed a lot between the real-life events and the show, but it’s still obviously very close to Mo and his personal connection.”

In this interpretation, the body of Mo’s nephew is found and Kayce fights to keep the sheriff from writing it off as someone taking their own life. Kayce and Broken Rock tribe member Miles (Tatanka Means) bend the rules to investigate.

Fred Hayes/CBS

“These are two Marshals who are willing to go into the grey area, especially when it’s someone they’re so close to in Mo,” Hudnut tells us. “The obstacles they’re facing are the prejudice and ignorance surrounding these issues facing the reservation, and the difficulties of processing a crime scene in a state park without cameras or witnesses to help them gather direct information and solve the case. Troy’s murder is definitely an engine that will be resolved later in the year and could potentially be tied to a larger conspiracy.”

Kayce also goes on the defensive for his son, Tate (Brecken Merrill), who gets beaten up while trying to stop his girlfriend from getting harassed. The perps find themselves on the wrong end of Kayce’s pent-up frustrations.

“There will definitely be consequences [for the dust up] — maybe not legal ones, but very personal ones that heavily impact Kayce’s own individual journey, and the journey of his relationship with Tate this season,” Hudnut reveals.

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There’s also a major shift in the relationship between Kayce’s boss Cal (Logan Marshall- Green) and colleague Belle (Arielle Kebbel) when Belle secretly joins Cal in Salt Lake City for his cancer treatments.

“Cal and Belle are finally out of Montana and away from prying eyes and their work lives, which frees them up to explore things in a way they haven’t been able to do at the office,” Hudnut says. “Cal’s cancer battle opens him up to Belle and makes him vulnerable in a way that makes her open up about her own past.”

That leads them to act on their feelings for each other. How they handle that after their return to reality and the pressures of the job is anyone’s guess.

Marshals, Sundays, 8/7c CBS