Luke Grimes knew to sign on Yellowstone spinoff would not be easy. He just didn’t expect that the hardest part would be answering the phone.
Grimes reprises Kayce Dutton in Marshals, which premiered March 1 on CBS. But the debut gave a good stomach: Kayce’s wife, Monica (Kelsey Asbille), has died after a cancer diagnosis.
Fans had already noticed Asbille’s absence from the cast. Now they know why.
Grimes admits he was “devastated.”
“It felt like, ‘I don’t even know what it would look like to do it without her, what it would feel like.’ Kelsey has become one of my best friends,” he shared TV Insider.
“She’s the coolest actor I’ve ever worked with. She’s down to earth, sweet and kind to all the other actors and the crew.”
Before agreeing to the story, he called.
“I worked up the courage to call. I didn’t know how she would feel about it,” Grimes said. “I had to see how she felt.”
The conversation? Better than he feared.
“In true Kelsey fashion, she handled it like a pro and totally got it. She’s going to be fine.”
Creator Spencer Hudnut said the loss was necessary after Kayce and Monica’s peaceful end. “We had to shake up his life to get him off the ranch and into a new position,” he explained, adding that history also highlights higher cancer rates on reservations.
As painful as it is, Grimes promises that the risk pays off: “The idea that was pitched to me is very, very good and very interesting, and it really got me going.”
Are you also ready to be intervened?
