With the news that Luke Grimes is set to reprise his role as Kayce Dutton in CBS’ highly anticipated Yellowstone sequel spin-off series, Y: Marshals, there’s a lot to be excited about. But as we look forward to seeing Kayce back in action, upholding the law across Big Sky Country, there is one other aspect of this project that ought to give long-time Taylor Sheridan fans hope for the Dutton family’s future. Maybe now, after five seasons and seven years, we’ll finally get better material for Kelsey Asbille’s Monica Dutton. Frankly, it’s about time.

‘Y: Marshals’ Needs to Give Monica Dutton Better Material
Kelsey Asbille as Monica Dutton on her porch on ‘Yellowstone’Image via Paramount Network
It’s no secret that one of the most purposeless characters on Yellowstone was Monica Dutton. Sorry, that was harsh, but it’s (sadly) true. Monica had very little to do on Yellowstone other than complain about the rest of the Dutton family, teetering between reprimanding Kayce for working with them and encouraging him to. As with Kayce himself, Taylor Sheridan never had a clear direction for his character, other than a few controversial moments that we still talk about today. After the drama of Season 1, where Monica wrestled with the fact that her husband had killed her brother (who had previously killed her brother-in-law), she flipped from being a temporary university teacher to becoming bait for a Rez rapist. In both cases, those storylines were dropped pretty quickly with little real resulting development. No character in the entire Yellowstone universe has been so poorly mishandled as Monica, and it’s not even close.

Only when Season 5 began did Yellowstone really give Monica some emotional fuel to chew on. After the death of her newborn son, whom she and Kayce named John Dutton IV, Monica’s grief hung over the first half of the season. As she worked through the pain of losing a child, a child she was responsible for carrying, we see a deeper, more introspective side to the character. But by Part 2, that introspective look at Monica was tossed to the side after Kayce took center stage following the death of her father-in-law. This was, of course, entirely understandable, but it means that Yellowstone has left Monica in a place where she can now move and grow into the next phase of life, a phase we hope to see on Y: Marshals.

Every-‘Yellowstone’-Season,-Ranked
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With this Kayce-centered spin-off, the franchise can finally do something more interesting with Monica besides just being a background character — and it should take a cue or two from Dark Winds. The AMC adaptation does a great job of making Emma Leaphorn (Deana Allison) an actual part of the narrative, even if she isn’t involved in her husband’s duties as a tribal lawman. It’s her involvement in the community that brings an important element to the show, adding a more balanced perspective to Joe’s (Zahn McClarnon) life. If the writers are smart, the same could be true of Y: Marshals. With their family now living on a parcel of former Dutton land, Monica could easily get involved further with the Broken Rock community in a way she didn’t before. If anything, this is the perfect opportunity for her to help maintain the land and inspire those on the Rez to something better. While Y: Marshals will no doubt focus largely on Kayce and his new team (as it should), any time we do spend with Monica ought to be intentional and engaging, offering a new side to the character who was so often ignored on Yellowstone.

Right Now, It’s Unclear If Monica Will Even Be in ‘Y: Marshals’

Considering that the same showrunner who tackled SEAL Team — a series unafraid to dive deep into the tension between duty to one’s country and one’s family — is helming Y: Marshals, it stands to reason that Monica (and Tate, by extension) should be a major part of the spin-off. The only problem is, unlike what we know about Luke Grimes’ commitment to returning as Kayce Dutton, we haven’t gotten any such confirmation that Kelsey Asbille will be returning as Monica. Given where the Yellowstone finale, “Life Is a Promise,” leaves these characters, it would be incredibly strange if Monica weren’t a part of the show. More than that, it would then fail to live up to the promise that Yellowstone left us with — and the tagline for what Y: Marshals supposedly intends to be.

One thing is for certain — Y: Marshals will lean into the investigative skills that Kayce developed over the course of the final season. This is an exciting concept, and one that will set the CBS series apart from other Yellowstone universe projects. But that doesn’t mean that we should let his duty to his family fall to the wayside in the process. Kayce has always struggled to juggle his commitments to his extended family and his nuclear family, but now, with his father gone, he must lean into becoming a better husband and father. Here’s hoping that Y: Marshals will live up to the hype, and that it will give Monica just as much to do as it does Kayce.

Yellowstone is available for streaming on Peacock.