Arielle Kebbell's Belle and Logan Marshall-Green's Cal in their tactical gear and holding rifles in Marshals season 2

Warning: SPOILERS lie ahead for Marshals season 2, episode 1, "All Hat No Cattle"!While Marshals season 2's premiere ended with things back on an even keel for its cast, one particular Yellowstone character will be undergoing some major changes.

Picking up immediately from season 1's ending, the CBS series returned with a bang as Luke Grimes' Kayce Dutton raced to save his son, Brecken Merrill's Tate, from greedy landowner Tom Weaver, while also finding his burgeoning connection with Weaver's daughter, Dolly, tested. All the while, Kayce's teammates investigate the shooters who attacked Logan Marshall-Green's Cal and Arielle Kebbell's Belle in the Marshals season 1 ending, which puts them on the same path to confronting Weaver, ending with his arrest, and the death of Dolly.

But while the Dutton family and the rest of the team may initially be safe, Marshals season 2 will still find one of its characters going through a particularly challenging journey in Cal, who was revealed partway through season 1 to be diagnosed with a Pancoast tumor. Going into the rest of the Yellowstone spinoff's new season, the team leader will not only have to determine who else to share the information with apart from Belle, as the pair finally begin developing their relationship, but also reflect on what his life might look like without the job.

Ahead of the show's return, ScreenRant's Grant Hermanns interviewed Spencer Hudnut and Logan Marshall-Green to discuss Marshals season 2. When asked about how Cal's arc is going to evolve in the new season, the showrunner began by teasing that the writers room "didn't shy away from adding things onto Cal's shoulders" both in the first and second seasons, with the Yellowstone spinoff character having to balance "running that team" with "integrating Kayce Dutton into a team environment" and "trying to reconcile with his daughter":

Spencer Hudnut: So, he's certainly a guy who does well, and is used to handling adversity. He's going to deal with a lot more adversity this season. But I think it's really, you know, coming into this show, Cal is someone who talked about how the badge has been his salvation. He didn't have a lot outside of the job in his life, and so as season 1 developed, we got to see him grow closer to Belle. Obviously, his relationship with Kayce evolved. They worked through their big hurdle in their relationship when we got to unpack what went on back in Afghanistan, and then Cal moved to Montana, not to become a marshal, but to have a chance of reconciling with his daughter.

With Marshals season 1 ending with Cal and Maddie finally gaining ground in rebuilding their relationship, along with his and Belle's potential new relationship, Hudnut teases that season 2 will see "the world around him [having] gotten bigger." But while that may come with some promising new developments for Marshall-Green's character, the Yellowstone spinoff showrunner cautions that it "means there's a lot more for him to possibly lose":

Spencer Hudnut: So, I think watching Cal deal with the struggles that come with his illness, how is he going to balance that? How is a guy who doesn't like to share things with people, who thinks he can carry all challenges by himself — we're going to put him through the test, and I think the goal is to maybe see if he can broaden his horizons a little bit, and realize that there's more to life than just the job and just the badge, and see what that does to him.

Logan Marshall-Green's Cal holding his rifle while leaning against a truck in Marshals season 2

Asked specifically about Cal's health diagnosis going into this season, Marshall-Green confirmed that Marshals season 2 will be "a journey of having cancer," albeit acknowledges that with "each journey [being] different," his character won't "go through the more extreme versions" of those living with cancer. Even still, Cal has "a malignant tumor in his lung" with his Pancoast tumor diagnosis, something that "happens to a lot of soldiers who were around these burn pits" like the character was during his time in Afghanistan.

For Marshall-Green, he felt it was important that in Marshals season 2, the creative team were "still earning everything" when it came to both Cal's efforts to fight his cancer, and getting audiences to invest in his journey this season:

Logan Marshall-Green: So each step — the doctor's visits, to where they are talking about real enemies that he can't beat, to chemo treatments, and to a surgery to have this thing removed — which we haven't gotten to yet, so I still couldn't even tell you, and there's lots that is still very much in flux with him in the cancer. Because he has this cancer, he has to figure out how to dole this information to the people around him, and that also has stakes in it. So, we're going to look at that and how it affects his job, and he's going to be humbled by this thing, and I think that's the best for the narrative.

Cal's Relationships Are Going To Start To Explode In Season 2

ScreenRant: I'm thrilled about season 2 so far. They gave me the first three episodes, and I'm already so intrigued, especially with all the character work that's going on for Cal and Belle, Cal and Miles, everybody has some really juicy stuff so far. To start with, when we last spoke, it was the season 1 finale, and you were already getting ready for season 2's production. What a whirlwind turnaround! How are you feeling now that production's well underway and the season's about to come out?

Logan Marshall-Green: Yeah, it's a trip because it just feels like it's one big season. We had a little hiatus, but the whole team's back, crew and cast, so, it's just been like a massive season that we've been shooting, and like you just said, you saw the first three episodes. I haven't seen anything. I actually haven't even seen the first season, but I certainly can't even remember what the second and third episodes of this season were. [Chuckles] I was like, "Wait, it feels like a year ago," but it was really only a few months ago.

ScreenRant: So, in talking about not even necessarily remembering things from season 1, I was kind of curious, with that quick turnaround, did you find that there were any lessons that you remembered from season 1, or little things you took away from your time in season 1 that you wanted to maybe sort of amplify with Cal going into season 2?

Logan Marshall-Green: I think I knew what to expect, because the workload is insane. What we're able to pull off, I don't really understand how it's done. But it was just stretching and making sure I was hitting the gym, and getting into the shape needed to pull off 60–70 hour weeks. We shoot everything within seven days, six days sometimes, so it's a gauntlet, to be completely honest. It was more just getting my constitution ready.

ScreenRant: I remember having a conversation with Shemar Moore not too long ago about SWAT, where he was like, "Yeah, we would do four days of action, four days of talking, and I had to be in shape for the action more than anything."

Logan Marshall-Green: [Chuckles] Yeah, the action part, no problem. I love it, it's great. The talking part is a lot, especially for my character. So, I prefer location over studio any day.

ScreenRant: I love that you mentioned the doling out information, because that was one of the immediate dynamics I wanted to turn to was Cal and Miles. Obviously, he's benched Miles for both Miles' actions, but also maybe as a little get back for dating Maddie. But at the same time, in season 2, we see Cal starting to try and be a little more vulnerable, but he doesn't want Miles to tell Maddie about the diagnosis. What can you tease about how that dynamic is going to evolve between Miles and Cal this season?

Logan Marshall-Green: Well, it's gonna explode things, in a sense. The triangle relationship between Miles and Maddie and Cal, it's gonna test it. But what you just said, the vulnerability is really gonna be something that we're going to look at, and he's going to have to rely on one of the other team leaders on the team. The team is made up of team leaders. That's how SEALs work, and how they view it. We'll see what happens, but I think the biggest thing is how he moves through life, which is a little bit of a softer step, not carrying such a weighted bat.

ScreenRant: Mentioning the other team leaders, obviously Belle and Cal started to find something at the end of season 1. In season 2, she's one of the ones who's encouraging him to be more open, but at the same time, without giving too much away, she has some of her own family drama that's sort of holding them back. What can you share about how that relationship's going to evolve as we go through this season?

Logan Marshall-Green: Well, it's going to ebb and flow. She has her own stuff going on, and they're definitely going to walk a tightrope. But you can only walk a tightrope for so long. You've got to get off it, you gotta fall, and they're not gonna stay on the tightrope between work and personal life for long. They're gonna have to deal and let go, and we'll see what happens. I probably should let Arielle [Kebbel] talk about her side of that, and her secrets and her personal life.

ScreenRant: Well, another explosive element that we get right away in the premiere is Kayce, of course, racing to save Tate, but leaving the team out of it. Kayce and Cal went through so much in season 1, especially as they confronted their past, that even though Cal is able to work out why Kayce's sort of leaving him out, I still wonder if there's maybe a sense of an underlying sense of betrayal or frustration on Cal's part of being left out of this big mission to save someone so close to Kayce?

Logan Marshall-Green: No, I don't think so at all. I don't think that's anything I played with. More, it was putting together what is going on, because he's gonna worry about being left out. [It's more about] "What are the reasons why, and what is actually he being left out of?" So, he's more got his nose to the grind about how to fix this for Kayce. I don't think he's holding on to anything.

ScreenRant: Okay, that's good. You never know with shows like this, one moment, they could be, "No, we're good. We got you." Next moment, it's, "Why did you not call me?"

Logan Marshall-Green: Yeah, no, no, no. Cal's sensitive, but he's not that sensitive. [Chuckles] I think he's more worried about his well-being. And also, because they realize quickly after not being killed that this is something bigger going on here, so it's more about what is going on and becoming kind of the detectives for that.

ScreenRant: With the way that episode ends, we sort of take away what seemed to be an overarching villain for the show. As we build into the next few episodes, might you be setting up someone else to take over as the overarching enemy for Kayce and everyone else?

Logan Marshall-Green: Well, this is not Yellowstone. This is Marshals. It's a procedural drama, so there's always going to be a new baddie each episode, if you will. But there certainly will be, as you're mentioning, overarching bigger baddies who have a lot more strings above it all. You'll find out there will be a few who will travel across multiple episodes, and we'll come back in ways that you didn't expect. So, that's what I like about it: is we're procedural. We work like a procedural, we kick it out like a procedural. But we also have this universe that can build character over the span of many episodes. But there's still a lot of permission to, like you're saying, create real obstacles, bad guys, antagonists who have lasting power and aren't just canned one and done.

Hudnut & Grimes Are Not Taking Monica's Potential Replacement Lightly

Still of Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton and Ellyn Jameson as Dolly Weaver in Marshals season 2.

ScreenRant: Turning to Kayce, and people he can or cannot trust. As we see, Tate is going off with someone we've now learned we can't necessarily trust. I'm curious about Dolly though, because I feel like that relationship is one where it's now even more in question about whether she is part of her father's plan and is just using Kayce, or if she genuinely has feelings for him. I'd love to hear what you're allowed to share or tease about how season 2 is going to explore that.

Spencer Hudnut: Yeah, I think that's the immediate thing that Kayce is faced with is he realizes he's been betrayed by one of the Weavers, but has he been betrayed by both of them? I think that he's wrestling with that throughout the first episode. Kayce is used to not being able to trust people. I think he's used to being disappointed by people, and used to tragedy always being around the corner. So, he is certainly going to grapple with that, and I think, at the same time, is this one of those experiences where Dolly comes through it, and has actually a better understanding of what Kayce's been through in his life, because she's realizing her father's not the man she thought he was? So this, actually, could be something that brings them closer if they're able to get through it together.

ScreenRant: I'd love to hear, too, about how uniquely challenging it is to introduce a new love interest for Kayce, given how well-loved Monica was and how much season 1 was about him grappling with the grief of her passing.

Luke Grimes' Kayce looking in thought while sitting on his horse in Marshals season 2

Spencer Hudnut: It's really one of the more — I don't want to say difficult, but it's one of the things that Luke Grimes and I have talked about the most since we first talked about this show. Obviously, this is a guy who has only loved one woman in his life. She was such a huge part of his life, and so much of season 1 was, as you said, dealing with the grief. So, we always knew that it would take serious baby steps to get him to a place of ever even confronting being in a real relationship. Season 1, Luke and I had a lot of conversations about where we were with Kayce and Dolly, and there were moments — I think it was episode 107, where she tried to kiss him, and he wasn't ready for that. We never actually showed them [kiss], they never kissed on camera. They know their relationship hadn't gotten to that point because it felt like we were just still dealing with Monica's loss. So, I think that's one of the challenges in season 2 is trying to see how can he progress? Can he continue to hold on to Monica, but also have a life beyond her? So, Dolly, it was interesting watching when she came on, and it was very clear in her first episode that she maybe had some eyes for Kayce, and what the audience thought of that. So, we want to be true to that Kayce-Monica relationship as much as possible.

ScreenRant: I remember when season 1 was going on, I interviewed Mo Brings Plenty, and he talked about the trafficking episode, and how he served as a cultural consultant on many of Taylor's works, but especially Yellowstone. How much did you talk with Gil Birmingham and with Mo this season for the mine fighting and the legislation arcs that we're going to see in season 2?

Spencer Hudnut: Yeah, those two are a constant resource for me, and I'm constantly talking to them and asking questions. I think of all the incredible things Taylor's done in his works, shining a spotlight on reservations and the issues facing them is one of the best things to come out of Yellowstone. So, when we had the opportunity to bring Mo and Rainwater into our world, I absolutely jumped at it. I think those storylines, much like the girls being trafficked last season, just give an added layer and depth to the show that I think a lot of other network shows don't have. I think it's what helps set us apart, so we have a lot of really good storylines coming out of Broken Rock this season. And yeah, I feel so blessed to get to work with those two.

New episodes of Marshals season 2 air Sundays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS!

Home

CBS' Marshals Season 2 Is Making 1 Big Change For Yellowstone Character