'Marshals' star explains shocking Monica twist and how it plays out

Marshals viewers were shocked when the show killed off Kayce Dutton’s wife, Monica.

After Marshals premiered on March 1, star Ash Santos explained how Monica’s death will guide the story of the Yellowstone spinoff.

"The entire season is shaped by — at least for Kayce — his grief and it ends up affecting all the characters in a different way," Santos told Us Weekly. "Because some of us on the show already knew him, some of us didn’t."

"I was a fan of Yellowstone, I watched every season. Monica’s character is a pillar of that show," she continued. "For us to move on without her, she still is in the fabric of Kayce’s story in every single episode. And we watch Tate as he becomes a teenager and now he’s got his own struggles and his mother isn’t there."

"So I think that [showrunner] Spencer Hudnut really honored her in the best way possible because you can’t continue to tell Kayce’s story without making sure that Monica is the heart. She’s the heartbeat of his journey, and I think that we’ve really honored that in the best way that we could," she added.

Towards the end of Yellowstone, after patriarch John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) death, Kayce becomes the new owner and operator of the Dutton family’s Yellowstone Ranch.