Yellowstone‘s spinoff Marshals explored a main character’s cancer diagnosis by having them undergo chemotherapy.
During the Sunday, October 18, episode of the show, Cal (Logan Marshall-Green) was preparing for his first appointment after telling the squad about his health scare. He urged everyone not to come with him but Cal subsequently struggled emotionally when alone at the hospital.
Luckily, Belle (Arielle Kebbel) showed up to support her boss — and love interest. The episode ended with Cal smiling as Belle joined him amid his ongoing personal challenges.Cal was originally diagnosed in season 1 and is the show’s second character to battle cancer — following Kayce’s (Luke Grimes) late wife, Monica (Kelsey Asbille).
Yellowstone, which aired from 2018 to 2024, introduced Us to Kayce and Monica, who remained at the center of the show until the finale.
After teaching at a local school on the Broken Rock Indian Reservation, Monica went on to become a professor at Montana State University while navigating life with Kayce, who moved them back to the Yellowstone Ranch following his past tension with dad John (Kevin Costner).
Following John’s death, Kayce, a former U.S. Navy SEAL, became the new owner and operator of the Yellowstone Ranch. Kayce and Monica ended the show alive — and were still together — before Marshals began.
When the series premiered in March, however, fans learned Monica had died after battling cancer.
“Kayce had such a perfect ending in Yellowstone,” showrunner Spencer Hudnut told TVLine at the time. “His dreams had finally come true. As we were trying to figure out how to tell the next chapter in Kayce’s story, it felt like he really needed to be shaken out of that. Unfortunately, tragedy tends to find Kayce, so something bad was going to happen for him one way or the other. It just sort of played out that it was going to be Monica.”
Hudnut said Monica’s death will continue to drive Kayce, adding, “To me, Monica is really guiding Kayce through this first episode, trying to help him find his new path. And if you actually break it down, Tate is at that rally to honor his mother, and Kayce goes there to protect Tate. So if not for Monica, Kayce never would have been in that position and may not have found this path.”
He concluded, “We really wanted to be respectful of the way that we said goodbye to her. I also didn’t want to step on the ending of Yellowstone, because what they had was a beautiful ending. Unfortunately, real life intervened.”
Asbille, 35, has not yet broken her silence on Monica’s onscreen death. She did grant access for her likeness to be used on the show, which allowed Marshals to include photos of the fictional character on screen.
Marshals airs on CBS Sundays at 8 p.m. ET before streaming the next day on Paramount+.
