Marshals Effectively Closes The Door On Yellowstone's Most Important Character's Return

Published Oct 9, 2026, 7:02 AM EDT Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies, television, culture, and politics online and in print since 2017. He worked as a Senior Editor in Adbusters Media Foundation from 2018-2019 and wrote for WhatCulture in early 2020. He has been a Senior Features Writer for ScreenRant since 2020. While the Yellowstone franchise initially revolved around Kevin Costner’s John Dutton, viewers of the show’s CBS spinoff shouldn’t hold their breath in anticipation of another appearance by the star in the role. As Netflix prepares to turn Taylor Sheridan’s favorite Western Lonesome Dove into an ambitious miniseries, perhaps it shouldn’t come a surprise that the prolific writer/director isn’t involved in this adaptation. After all, he’s a busy man. As of 2026, Sheridan is currently working on the ongoing Tulsa King, Landman, The Madison, and the spy drama Lioness, as well as the forthcoming Tulsa King spinoff Frisco King. This is without even mentioning the franchise that made him famous, namely the contemporary Neo-Western Yellowstone. While Yellowstone ended its run in 2024, the show spawned the prequels 1883 and 1923 and two sequel series. While the sequel Dutton Ranch follows Beth and Rip’s new life, CBS’s procedural Marshals follows Luke Grimes’ Kayce as he transitions from ranching to working as a US Marshal. Season 1 of the CBS series mined a lot of drama out of Kayce’s troubled relationship with his father John Dutton, played in Yellowstone by Kevin Costner. As such, even though Costner’s character was killed off before the original show ended, some viewers understandably wondered whether he might someday make an onscreen return in Marshals. Luke Grimes Explains Why John III's Marshals Return Is Improbable Matthias Clamer/CBS Sadly, a recent interview with Grimes proves that this is unlikely. Moreover, the actor’s comments prove that such a cameo would arguably be a waste of screen time since Kayce’s love interest Monica, who also died in the original series, would be a more moving returning star for the spinoff. When asked by USA Today about the possibility of John returning to the series in a flashback sequence, a dream, or a hallucination, Kayce’s actor was quick to note that Monica’s return would work better. Per the star, “it would be cool. I doubt that will happen at this point… I think if there was a flashback, I'd probably rather it be with Monica than John. I think that'd be more poignant to the character, but we'll see.” Grimes has a point here, especially when Kayce’s relationship with John was as unpleasant as it was in the original show. Throughout much of Marshals season 1, Kayce pushed back against the idea that he was becoming Yellowstone’s John Dutton, even though he often resorted to extra judicial violence to protect his family and his interests, like his amoral father. To be fair to Kayce, he never went as far as John, who routinely had people killed for trying to buy his land, and who once literally branded his own then-teenage son Kayce for refusing to force Monica to obtain an abortion. Why Marshals Need John III's Appearance (Despite Grimes' Explanation) CBS However, as noted by a lot of the show’s critics, Yellowstone never really dealt with the moral failings of John Dutton, and mostly portrayed the character as merely a brooding, traditional patriarch willing to do anything to protect his land. John’s eventual death, at the hands of assassins hired by his own son, was treated as a tragedy by the original show rather than an ironic and inevitable outcome of his terrible parenting. Thus, while Grimes isn’t sure whether the cameo would work, there is at least one good reason to bring back John Dutton in Marshals. The Yellowstone character was as pitifully reprehensible as The Shield’s Shane Vendrell or Vic Mackey, but the original show softened its depiction of him, hemming and hawing over how bad a dad John Dutton really was in an attempt to make the show’s protagonist palatable. Now that the new show is explicitly about Kayce’s attempts to avoid becoming as scummy and self-interested as his father, bringing back Costner’s character for a flashback or a dream sequence that reminds viewers of John Dutton’s flaws would make perfect thematic sense. For the Yellowstone spinoff to avoid lionizing Dutton, Costner’s character should return to c and remind his son who he really was. Release Date 2026 - 2026-00-00 Network CBS Showrunner Spencer Hudnut Directors Christopher Chulack, Greg Yaitanes Writers Spencer Hudnut, Tom Mularz, Dana Greenblatt Creator(s) Spencer Hudnut