Dutton’s death again.
Mo Brings Plenty couldn’t believe that Monica Dutton, played by Kelsey Asbill, was killed off before ‘The Marshalls’ began.
The “Yellowstone” alum spoke candidly about the surprising decision and the floored reaction in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter published Sunday.
“Boy, at first I was like, ‘Why?!’ Because that was our connection to the Duttons,” Plenty, 56, began. “There was always a connection between the Dutton family and Broken Rock, but Monica was an even bigger connection.”
He added, “So to lose it, I was like ‘no’ at first.”
However, the Oglala Lakota actor admitted that “Marshalls” creator Spencer Hudnut needed to “tell a story” and that Monica’s off-screen death created a “void” for his character, Mo, to fill.
“And the blessing of that happening is that Casey (Dutton) now has to fill that hole,” Plenty explained. “So that connection is still there.”
He continued, “Not just the fact that Rainwater adopted him and took him in as a brother, Mo and Casey are warriors, and that brotherhood was always there, but it was made even stronger.”
“The Marshalls,” the latest spinoff of Taylor Sheridan’s hit Western drama “Yellowstone,” launches March 1 on CBS and Paramount+.
However, the series premiere surprised fans with the reveal that Casey Dutton’s wife Monica died of cancer off-screen after the events of the original show.
Luke Grimes, who played Casey in Yellowstone and reprized the role in The Marshalls, previously said he was upset that Asbir, 34, did not return to Broken Rock Reservation or the spin-off.
“It was heartbreaking for me and for (Asbir),” Grimes, 42, told TVLine earlier this month, adding that she had to “gather courage” to call her former co-star.
“We had a great conversation,” he continued. “In true Kelsey fashion, she responded professionally and was completely understanding.”
Meanwhile, Hudnut told THR that he was not involved in any conversations surrounding Asbir not returning. He stated that she was not able to appear in “The Marshalls”, but called her character’s ending “beautiful”.
As for Plenty, he did a “happy dance” when he was invited back to reprise his “Yellowstone” character in the latest offshoot after the original series ended in December 2024.
In addition to Plenty and Grimes, Gil Birmingham (Thomas Rainwater) and Brecken Merrill (Tate Dutton) also return to “The Marshalls.”
“I got a call from the team and said, ‘Of course. If Luke and Gil are involved, I’m going to be involved,'” Plenty told THR. “It was an easy yes to take on these characters. These are such iconic characters that I really wanted to take them on.”
“When I was finishing ‘Yellowstone,’ I felt kind of sad,” he added. “They were great people. And suddenly, here we are. We’re back. That was great news for me. I was doing cartwheels in my mind, doing a happy dance that I didn’t want the world to see.”
