Taylor Sheridan’s TV empire is so massive at this point that it sometimes feels less like a slate of shows and more like a small government with better hats. There are ranches, oil fields, spies, mobsters, marshals, and enough emotionally damaged men staring into the distance to power a streaming service by themselves. But even with so many actors now working inside his world, not everyone has actually met the man responsible for building it. Apparently, even when you’re starring in one of his spin-offs, Sheridan can still feel a little mythical.
Marshals star Arielle Kebbel revealed that she has never met Sheridan, even though she stars in the Yellowstone spin-off led by Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton. Speaking with in a new interview, Kebbel joked that Sheridan operates almost like an unseen force behind the expanding franchise, saying:
“It’s funny. I was talking with some of the cast of his other shows, and at least in my experience, Taylor’s like the man behind the curtain. No one ever sees him. The man is busy. So I actually have not met him.”
That’s fair enough, honestly. Sheridan has become one of the busiest creators in television, with multiple projects either airing, filming, or preparing to launch across the Paramount ecosystem. For Marshals, though, Kebbel explained that the situation is slightly different because the series is not simply another Sheridan-penned drama. It exists inside the Yellowstone universe with Sheridan’s blessing and executive producer involvement, but Spencer Hudnut is the show’s creator. “For our show, it’s a bit of a different story because our show is truly a hybrid of the Yellowstone universe, with Taylor’s blessing and Taylor executive producing and 101 Studios behind us. Also, Spencer Hudnut is our show creator,” Kebbel said.
The cast includes Luke Grimes (American Sniper, Fifty Shades of Grey) as Kayce Dutton, Arielle Kebbel (John Tucker Must Die, The Vampire Diaries) as Belle, Ash Santos (American Horror Story, True Story) as Andrea, Tatanka Means (Killers of the Flower Moon, The Son) as Miles, Brecken Merrill (Yellowstone, This Is Us) as Tate Dutton, Gil Birmingham (Wind River, Hell or High Water) as Thomas Rainwater, and Mo Brings Plenty (Yellowstone, The Revenant) as Mo.
Collider Exclusive · Taylor Sheridan Universe Quiz Which Taylor Sheridan Show Do You Belong In? Yellowstone · Landman · Tulsa King · Mayor of Kingstown
Four worlds. All of them brutal, complicated, and built on power, loyalty, and the price of survival. Taylor Sheridan doesn’t write heroes — he writes people who do what they have to do and live with the cost. Ten questions will reveal which one of his worlds you were made for.
🤠Yellowstone
🛢️Landman
👑Tulsa King
⚖️Mayor of Kingstown
01
Where does your power come from? In Sheridan’s world, everyone has leverage. The question is what kind.
02
Who do you put first, no matter what? Loyalty in Sheridan’s universe is always absolute — and always costly.
03
Someone crosses a line. How do you respond? Every Sheridan protagonist has a line. What matters is what happens after it’s crossed.
04
Where do you feel most in your element? Sheridan’s worlds are as much about place as they are about people.
05
How do you feel about operating in the grey? Nobody in a Sheridan show has clean hands. The question is how they carry the dirt.
06
What are you actually fighting to hold onto? Every Sheridan character is fighting a war. The real question is what they’re defending.
07
How do you lead? Authority in Sheridan’s world is never given — it’s established, maintained, and constantly tested.
08
Someone new arrives and tries to change how things work. Your reaction? Every Sheridan show has an outsider disrupting an established order. Sometimes that outsider is you.
09
What has your position cost you? Nobody gets to where these characters are without paying for it. The bill is always personal.
10
When it’s over, what do you want people to say? Sheridan’s characters all know the ending is coming. The question is what they leave behind.
Sheridan Has Spoken You Belong In…
The show that claimed the most of your answers is the world you were built for. If two tied, both are shown — you’re complicated enough to straddle two Sheridan universes.
🤠 Yellowstone
🛢️ Landman
👑 Tulsa King
⚖️ Mayor of Kingstown
You are a Dutton — or you might as well be. You understand that some things are worth protecting at any cost, and that the modern world’s indifference to history, to land, to legacy, is not something you’re willing to accept quietly. You lead from the front, you carry your family’s weight without complaint, and when someone threatens what’s yours, you don’t escalate — you finish it. You’re not cruel. But you are absolute. In Yellowstone’s world, that combination of ferocity and loyalty doesn’t make you a villain. It makes you the only thing standing between everything that matters and everyone who wants to take it.
You thrive in the chaos of high-stakes negotiation, where the money is enormous, the margins are thin, and the wrong word in the wrong room can cost everyone everything. You’re a fixer — the person called when a situation is already on fire and needs someone with the nerve to walk into it. West Texas oil country rewards exactly what you are: sharp, adaptable, unsentimental, and absolutely clear-eyed about what people want and what they’ll do to get it. You’re not naive enough to think this world is fair. You’re smart enough to be the one deciding who it’s fair to.
You are a Dwight Manfredi — someone who has served their time, paid their dues, and arrived somewhere unexpected with nothing but their reputation and their wits. You adapt without losing yourself. You build loyalty through respect rather than fear, though you’re not above reminding people that the two aren’t mutually exclusive. Tulsa King is for people who are still standing when everyone assumed they’d be finished — who find, in an unfamiliar place, that they’re more capable than the world gave them credit for. You don’t need a throne. You build one, wherever you happen to land.
You carry the weight of a system that is broken by design, and you do it anyway — because someone has to, and because you’re the only one positioned to do it without the whole thing collapsing. Mike McLusky’s world is for people who are comfortable operating where there are no good options, only less catastrophic ones. You speak every language: law enforcement, criminal, political, human. That fluency makes you invaluable and it makes you a target. You’ve made your peace with both. Mayor of Kingstown belongs to people who understand that keeping the peace is not the same as being at peace — and who do the job regardless.
Why Is ‘Marshals’ Succeeding?
For Kebbel, the series works because it combines the familiar world Sheridan created with a new chapter shaped by Hudnut. That balance is important, especially since Marshals has the difficult job of moving Kayce Dutton into a new law-enforcement story while keeping enough of Yellowstone’s DNA intact for longtime fans. “So, just in terms of the character development and story arcs, it’s really a merger of the world that Taylor [created with Yellowstone] with this new chapter that Spencer’s created,” Kebbel said.
She also credited the returning Yellowstone cast members with helping the spin-off maintain that connection to the original series. “That’s also why I say we’re so lucky that we had so many of the original [Yellowstone] cast come with us,” Kebbel said. “Because it really does help keep things familiar in that world while also bringing in these new characters.”
Marshals airs new episodes Sundays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.
