Kayce Dutton’s Marshals spinoff picks up after the events in Yellowstone — but how much time has passed between the shows?
CBS aired the series premiere of Marshals on Sunday, March 1, which picked up around 15 months after the events of the Yellowstone series finale. Since then, Kayce and Beth (Kelly Reilly) sold the majority of Dutton Ranch to the Broken Rock Indian Reservation.
Belle (Arielle Kebbel) mentioned in the pilot that John Dutton (Kevin Costner) is still considered “unsolved” by the public while Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley) is missing after viewers saw Rip (Cole Hauser) and Lloyd (Forrie J. Smith) dispose of his body after Beth killed him.
Yellowstone, which premiered on Paramount in 2018, followed the conflicts along the shared border of a large cattle ranch, the Broken Rock Indian reservation and land developers. The show was poised for a lengthy run on the Paramount Network but rumors about Costner’s future on the show put things to a halt.
While Costner, 71, and series creator Taylor Sheridan denied reports of a feud, Paramount Network confirmed in May 2023 that Yellowstone would end for good at the end of season 5. The hits kept coming with Costner not returning for the second half of the final season.
“Kevin has been a big part of Yellowstone’s success,” a spokesperson for the network said in a statement at the time. “While we had hoped that we would continue working with him, unfortunately, we could not find a window that worked for him, all the other talent, and our production needs in order to move forward together. We respect that Kevin has prioritized his new film series and we wish him the best.”
Costner, who shifted his focus to directing and acting in Horizon: An American Saga, stood by his decision to move on.
“It wasn’t tough,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2024. “It was a necessary decision to say, ‘Hey, OK, I don’t want to really talk about this anymore. It’s time to move on.’”
Costner continued: “I gave this thing five seasons. I was really happy to do it. And I don’t need drama. So, let’s just take that drama away, let’s take the guessing [away]. The fans have been way too good to me. And my obligation is to go on and continue to make things that mean something to them.”
Grimes, 42, meanwhile, was forthcoming about the distance between him and Costner.
“I haven’t talked to him since,” he revealed during a Men’s Health MH Flex interview in December 2024 about Costner’s departure. “It’s not a case of any hard feelings or anything. It’s just, he’s Kevin Costner. He’s a big deal. I do have his phone number — I just don’t feel like it’s my place to reach out. He can reach out to me if he wants to.”
Grimes noted that he didn’t end on bad terms with Costner, adding, “None of us saw it coming the way it did, and obviously there was news about possible blowups behind the scenes or whatever. But just like in life, man, these things happen, they happen fast, and they’re not predictable.”
Marshals airs on CBS Sundays at 8 p.m. ET.
