“He's a Really Talented Guy”: Luke Grimes Says Riley Green Was Better Than Anyone Expected on ‘Marshals’

Luke Grimes underlines that Riley Green exceeded his and the team's expectations when filming Season 1 of the Yellowstone spin-off, Marshals. Green appeared in a couple of episodes as Kayce Dutton's old Navy SEAL team-mate, Garrett.

While chatting to Cody Alan for SiriusXM's The Highway, Grimes - who plays Kayce in Taylor Sheridan's hit neo-Western series - begins by recalling how the idea for Green to play a role in Marshals started when the two were working on some music together.

Grimes shares that Green confided that he wanted to get into acting, “Riley and I were doing a write together, and he was talking about wanting to act. And this was right when Marshals was sort of coming together. And I thought, ‘Man, that would be kind of cool if he was, like, in my show’. You know, I knew what it was gonna be about, I knew we were gonna do that Navy SEAL stuff, and I was like, he could be like an old team buddy or something. He's got that look to him. He could be a team guy”.

Grimes then jokes, “And I knew I wasn't doing myself any favours - who wants to stand next to him on-screen? You know what I mean? He's 6 foot 4 and pretty darn handsome”.

The American Sniper star goes on to emphasise that he felt Green would be perfect for a part in the show, and his show-runner agreed, “But I was like, you know what man, I think he'd actually be really good at it. You know, I think this would be a great way in for him. So I brought it up with the show-runner. He loved the idea. He was very aware of who Riley was and, you know, wrote him a great part”.

To Grimes’ bemusement, CBS weren't as sold on the idea straight away, and insisted Green do an audition to ensure his acting was up to scratch, “And then the funny thing was, CBS didn't know who he was as much as we did, you know, because we're talking about CBS people in LA that don't know country music that well”.

He admits that he thought this was hilarious, “They made him audition. And I was like, you're gonna make Riley Green audition for this? Like, we wrote him a part, like, give it to him. [CBS were like], No, we want to make sure he can act a little bit, and I was like, okay. So he flew out to Utah and I auditioned with him. We read together...I just thought it was the funniest thing ever that he had to audition for something”.

Green has spoken recently about how he was grateful that CBS made him audition, because it meant he was given the chance to “earn the part”. During a conversation with Men's Journal the ‘Worst Way’ singer-songwriter explained, “I was glad that I got to go read, because it gave me a little confidence that they said, ‘OK, you’re good enough to do it,’ because I had no clue if I was going to be any good.“I wouldn’t want to be given a part because of something I’ve done in music. I want to somewhat earn it if I can. I think I skipped a lot of steps by getting a part like this as my first gig, but I’m very thankful that I was given that opportunity”.

The Ohio native, who dropped his sophomore country album, Red Bird, in April, concludes by paying homage to how Green ended up doing a better job than anyone thought he would.

Grimes warmly gushes, “Yeah, he's great. I mean, he's a really talented guy. You know, I think talent's talent. You can figure it out on any level, but I mean, beyond that, he did better than I think any of us expected that he would do. The first time ever on a set like that, never acted before. He crushed it...It's special what he did”.

Although Green definitely won't be returning as Garrett for Season 2, we're curious as to whether Grimes and the Marshals crew have any other musical cameos up their sleeves.

The Yellowstone universe has welcomed a dazzling array of country artists on-set over the course of the main series and spin-offs such as Marshals, 1883, 1923, The Madison and Dutton Ranch. For instance, in Season 5 of the original series, Lainey Wilson makes a stellar cameo as Abby, who ends up with Ryan (Ian Bohen).

We've also witnessed surprise on-screen performances from the likes of Zach Bryan, Ryan Bingham, Turnpike Troubadours and Shane Smith & The Saints, while the soundtrack - compiled by Music Supervisor Andrea von Foerster - regularly showcases a blend of up-and-coming country and Americana artists and mainstream icons.

Marshals returns for its sophomore season on Sunday, October 4th at 8:30pm ET, with new episodes then airing every Sunday at 8pm ET. Judging by the explosive trailer, which dropped last week, Kayce and his fellow US Marshals are in for a heck of a ride.