The Yellowstone Season 4 Line That Foreshadowed A Major Death In Marshals

This article contains spoilers for "Marshals" episode 1.

The way the latest "Yellowstone" offshoot "Marshals" kills off one of the key players on its parent series, Monica Long Dutton (Kelsey Asbille), feels like a slap in the face to fans after the fifth and final season of "Yellowstone." But this is a Taylor Sheridan TV show we're talking about, meaning that we shouldn't be surprised when anyone bites the dust. And while some folks would still argue that Monica's sudden demise is a needless tragedy, it was seemingly teased as far back as "Yellowstone" season 4.

Fans of the wildest moments on "Yellowstone" might have fond memories of Monica's husband Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) experiencing a supernatural vision quest in the aforementioned season. After confronting a series of hallucinations about his past, Kayce's quest concludes with a mysterious girl leading him to a hill where he's presented with two pathways, causing him to have an epiphany. Later, when Monica asks him what he witnessed, Kayce tells her: "I saw the end of us." 

Kayce's vision quest is shrouded in ambiguity and open to interpretation. However, the general theory is that he had to choose his marriage over his commitments to other members of the Dutton family in order to save his relationship. In hindsight, though, it seems that the end was coming for Monica and Kayce regardless. With that in mind, let's examine how "Yellowstone" season 4 foreshadowed this turn of events on "Marshals."

The overarching story of "Yellowstone" is about the Dutton family's fight to save their land from those who wish to take it. However, following the death of their patriarch John Dutton (Kevin Costner) in "Yellowstone" season 5, siblings Kayce and Beth (Kelly Reilly) decide to return it to the Broken Skull Reservation. Thus, Kayce chooses Monica over his family, allowing them to live on happily ... or so we thought.

Now ponder this: What if Kayce's aforementioned response to Monica was secretly a spoiler for her imminent demise? After all, the "Yellowstone" prequel "1923" subtly sets up a major character's death early on, while its fellow "Yellowstone" spin-off "1883" spoiled its parent show's ending before most of us even realized that. The point is, this franchise has a history of teasing send-offs long before they happen. Therefore, it isn't such a far-fetched notion to think that Taylor Sheridan and his writers have had Monica's death planned for a while.

This also means that some of our interpretations of Kayce's visions might be wrong. What if Monica was always destined to die, and Kayce choosing her over the ranch wasn't ever going to change that? That appears to be the case, now that she's literally dead and all, despite "Yellowstone" season 5 teasing a peaceful ending for her and Kayce. Alternatively, it's possible that Monica's death is yet another example of a Sheridan series killing off a pivotal character because, well, why not? Still, that "Yellowstone" season 4 line suddenly feels much more significant following the tragic revelation on "Marshals."

New episodes of "Marshals" premiere weekly on CBS.