Before Kayce’s ‘Yellowstone’ Spin-Off Arrives, There’s One Crucial Issue That Needs Fixing

If there was one thing about the original Yellowstone that always drove me crazy (okay, there were a few things), it was that Luke Grimes’ Kayce Dutton was one of the show’s most interesting characters, but he always felt completely directionless. Whether this was intentional on the part of Taylor Sheridan, as the Dutton heir wrestled with his family legacy, or a sorry result of trying to explore too many different avenues at once without keeping focus on any in particular, is up for debate. But with the news that the long-rumored Yellowstone sequel series featuring Kayce is officially happening, the one thing this spin-off needs to do in order to succeed is give Kayce something worth genuinely fighting for, and help him find some direction in the process.

‘Yellowstone’s Upcoming Kayce-Centric Sequel Needs to Give the Hero More Motivation

Fans of the Taylor Sheridan drama can rejoice knowing that there are more Kayce Dutton adventures on the way with this upcoming sequel series project. As it’s currently described as a “procedural-style drama,” the proposed spin-off will pick up sometime after the events of “Life Is a Promise,” with Kayce (and his family?) living a new life, now leaning further into a law enforcement career. But in order for this show to thrive in the procedural format (which is a welcome-yet-vast departure from the original series), I think it’s crucial that we understand Kayce’s decision to once again put his life at risk for the sake of others. Now that the war for the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch is over and done, many of us thought that Kayce would retire from any more action. It’s only when his family has been threatened that Kayce has revealed himself a capable warrior

, and those stories were always some of my favorites. But here, it seems that the show is set to be an almost Longmire-style procedural that will put Kayce back in the line of fire. The question is, why?

If the show is a more procedural take on the Yellowstone story, there needs to be a clear reason that Kayce has chosen this new path. In the past, he was both a Navy SEAL and a rancher, but in both of those roles, he has always struggled with belonging. By the end of Yellowstone, the show gave Kayce more to do as he sought to come to terms with his father’s death. In fact, one of the best elements of this batch of episodes was Kayce solving John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) murder. Back when the show was still airing, I wrote about how Kayce may have finally found his true purpose as an investigator. No doubt, the positive response to Kayce’s arc in Season 5B is likely why this spin-off is happening in the first place. Seeing Luke Grimes play the neo-Western detective wasn’t where any of us thought the character would go, but as it was happening, I could finally see the vision. For this reason, the Kayce Dutton show is the Yellowstone spin-off that I am most looking forward to. The transition to CBS may prove difficult, but I think it will be quite rewarding, and allow the franchise to expand its audience in return.

However, when Yellowstone ended, we see Kayce return to his life as a rancher, leaving law enforcement behind him. He actively gave up his role as Livestock Commissioner, turning in the badge to spend more time with Monica (Kelsey Asbille) and Tate (Brecken Merrill). The problem is, if Kayce is getting back into the business of life-and-death, especially in a more police-oriented capacity, there has to be a good reason. If this Kayce-centric Yellowstone sequel wants to retain its original audience, then it needs to give Kayce more direction in his life. After all, we spent five seasons wondering what, if anything, would ever come from the Kayce/Monica plot. If this is it, great, I think we’re all for this shift in perspective if this career change can be explained well, but if this is yet another job that Kayce is tackling with no long-term effect on his life, then Taylor Sheridan needs to find another angle with this character.

Kayce Dutton Has Far More Potential Than ‘Yellowstone’ Had Time to Explore

Between his history as a soldier, his past mistakes as a husband and father, and his willingness to do what’s right even when things are hard, Kayce Dutton has always been one of Yellowstone’s most interesting characters. The problem is, the show too often pivoted from anything interesting about Kayce in order to offer another John Dutton monologue or a “badass” Beth (Kelly Reilly) scene that ultimately served little interest to the plot. I always wanted Kayce to take over the family business, and, in my view, his marriage to Monica and their children would be the perfect bridge between the Duttons and the Native peoples who border the land. Of course, Yellowstone ultimately went in a different direction, but Kayce and his family still hold a piece of their respective ancestral homeland of their own. What will become of that with this spin-off is still up in the air.

If Taylor Sheridan and company are smart, they’ll keep the focus on Kayce and his family as the Dutton patriarch pursues this next leg in his life journey. While it’s possible that Kayce could turn to law enforcement to solve the deaths of his wife and son (though this is purely speculation), the hope is that they are there to support him as he chooses to commit his life to helping others. He did this once as a solider, but now on the home front, it’s an entirely different ballgame. Making Kayce a cop, or some sort of investigator, could spark new life into the Yellowstone Universe, finally breaking the franchise away from its tired recycled “land-grabbing” plot and instead turning to something more interesting. There are so few procedurals set in the American West, with the aforementioned Longmire and the short-lived Big Sky among the two notable exceptions (I’d mention Dark Winds, except it’s not exactly a procedural), and so my hope, as someone who lives in this part of the country, is that we finally get a new Western procedural worth watching. If Sheridan can deliver, I’ll be the first in line.