Discovering Monica’s doomed fate in Marshals’ first episode wasn’t exactly the revelation to end all revelations. Theories about her death abound after the first trailer was released, and the lack of Kelsey Asbille’s presence in future trailers indicated pretty heavily that her character would not be involved, at least not in a living and breathing capacity. Still, I can appreciate that the premiere fully addressed the issue rather than trying to sidestep it until a point when audiences forgot she existed.It’s heavily implied within the Season 1 narrative that Monica is one of many tribe members who succumbed to cancer caused by tainted reservation land and water. (At least allegedly.) But given that Yellowstone’s series finale wrapped Kayce’s story up in such a seemingly closed-ended way, it’s curious that Luke Grimes’ character was the one given the plot focus here. Co-creator and showrunner Spencer Hudnut told The Hollywood Reporter that one of the biggest hurdles in breaking this show’s story involved giving Kayce a big enough hook to justify the spinoff’s spotlight.That hook ended up being Monica’s absence, though Hudnut shared that this outcome was a result of BTS scheduling, and not an intentional cast culling. As the showrunner put it:
The original conversation was that it has to be something. There was the thought of, 'Maybe we find him and he’s just bored because he was protecting his family and was a Navy SEAL, so then actually a calm life is not for him, which is a path.’ But probably not a satisfying enough path for Kayce. Then, truthfully, as we were trying to figure it out, Monica was not one of the ingredients that was available to me.
