Spencer Hudnut, the showrunner for the upcoming Yellowstone spinoff Y: Marshals, shares new details about where one of the returning Dutton family members’ story is headed next. Taylor Sheridan’s smash hit neo-Western series Yellowstone came to an end in December 2024, but the Yellowstone franchise is still growing with sequels and spinoffs in the works.

The franchise already includes the two series, 1883 and 1923, exploring different earlier generations of the Dutton family who settle in Montana. Following Yellowstone‘s ending, the modern-day Duttons go off in different directions. Y: Marshals, which will premiere on March 1, 2026, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS, will follow Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) starting a career as a U.S. Marshal.

At the end of Yellowstone, Kayce and his sister Beth (Kelly Reilly) sell the Dutton Ranch back to the Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock for the price of what the land was worth when the Duttons originally took it, also agreeing that Kayce can stay on a section of the land with his wife Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and son Tate (Breckin Merrill). Merrill is confirmed to be reprising his role in Y: Marshals, but not Asbille.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hudnut reveals how the simple passage of time has changed Kayce since we last saw him. “This downtime that he’s had between the end of that show and the start of ours has forced him to confront some of his demons and really focus on being a father,” says the new Yellowstone universe showrunner. “He’s a changed man.”

Now starring in a series separate from characters such as his siblings and their father John (Kevin Costner), Y: Marshals is perhaps allowed to focus more on Kayce’s relationship with Tate. “Kayce having this opportunity to spend more time at home and be more focused on continuing to evolve as a father is definitely one of the big storylines,“ says Hudnut.

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“I think Kayce primarily always saw himself as a provider and a protector to his son, but maybe left the parenting to his wife,” he continues. “But as he’s had a little more time on the home front, one of the things we get to see is the bond between Kayce and his son and also just seeing Kayce beginning to see a lot more of himself in his son as well.“

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Meanwhile, Beth and her husband Rip (Cole Hauser) are getting a spinoff, titled The Dutton Ranch, about the couple running their own ranch after the sale in the flagship’s finale. Michelle Pfeiffer is also leading the mysterious Yellowstone spinoff The Madison, following a New York family who is forced to relocate to Montana after a tragedy.

And there are still potentially more Yellowstone spinoffs in the pipeline, fleshing out all the branches of the Dutton family tree, but also expanding the franchise to focus on people only loosely connected to them. However, for fans of Kayce’s character specifically, the showrunner offers a clear update on the future of his emotional arc in Y: Marshals.