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Luke Grimes was ‘heartbroken’ when he discovered Marshals creator Spencer Hudnut planned to kill off his onscreen wife Kelsey Asbille for the Yellowstone sequel, so he made sure he was the one to break the news to her.
The 34-year-old One Tree Hill alum’s controversial character – Broken Rock Tribe member Monica Long Dutton – divided audiences during her five seasons on the Paramount Network western (2018–2024) for allegedly being controlling and dragging down Kayce Dutton.
Fans took note when Asbille was not mentioned in any promotional material for the $52 million-budget CBS spin-off nor the trailer, which teased her impending death by cancer as a result of toxins dumped onto the land by the government.
‘After how much Mom suffered, we should be leading the charge here,’ their son Tate Dutton (Brecken Merrill) said at a protest during Sunday’s premiere.
‘Not waving the white flag.’
At first, the 42-year-old executive producer-star wasn’t even sure how Marshals would feel or look like without Asbille’s (last name Chow) presence on set.
‘Kelsey’s become one of my best friends. She’s the coolest actor I’ve ever worked with. She’s down to earth, sweet, and kind to every other actor and the crew,’ Grimes told TV Insider on Monday.
‘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. 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.’
Indeed, the brunette beauty has secured two post-Yellowstone projects – Brian McGreevy’s psychological thriller The Technique and Harris Gurny’s indie rom-com Adulting.
‘Are we going to make a show about a guy who’s really happy?’ the showrunner defended.
‘We had to shake up his life, to get him off the ranch and into a new position.’
Hudnut noted that Kayce will continue to visit Monica’s grave on his East Camp property as ‘her spirit’ remains with him throughout Marshals: ‘It’s a sacred spot.’
‘The first half of the season, Tate is having to drag his father into the reality that Monica is gone,’ he said.
‘There is this interesting dynamic where the son is really teaching the father. Kayce is still grappling and refusing to embrace this grief. That journey is a big part of his season.’
But Grimes and Hudnut have no intention of having Kayce find love with a new leading lady as it ‘would feel like we were cheating if it happened anytime soon.’
Marshals – airing Sundays on CBS – currently has a dismal 44 percent critic approval rating and a 55% Popcornmeter audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
On the music front, the Actor Award nominee has already dropped two singles Haunted and Love You Now off his second studio album Redbird, which will be released on April 3.
Grimes – who pulls 737,883 monthly listeners on Spotify – isn’t scheduled to perform live again until May 2 at Mexican country festival DuckFest in Santiago.
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