Behind-the-scenes tension in the Yellowstone universe has not been limited to Dutton Ranch. While Ed Harris, Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser have spoken publicly about the demands of that spin-off—and have since signalled enthusiasm for Season 2—another Sheridan-adjacent series absorbed a quieter, more personal disappointment. On Marshals, part of the crew spent weeks upset after a character death that removed country singer Riley Green from the show.

The death that landed hardest off-camera

Green played Garrett, a figure tied to Kayce Dutton’s military past. In Season 1 of Marshals he dies after a barn fire on Kayce’s ranch. The narrative decision closed one route into Kayce’s service history; it also removed an actor who had clearly connected with the people working around him.

Ash Santos, who plays Andrea, told People that the reaction in the hair-and-makeup department was especially strong. “Our hair-and-makeup team, especially, those women loved him,” she said. “We had people on our crew who were so upset with [showrunner] Spencer [Hudnut] for weeks when they got that episode.”

The detail is revealing. Cast and writers often absorb character exits as story necessities. Crew members who spend hours each day preparing an actor can experience the same exit as the sudden disappearance of someone they liked and worked with closely. On Marshals, that attachment lasted well beyond the day the episode was shot.

A full schedule, a short run

Green is unlikely to reappear in the present-day timeline. He remains a busy country artist and has taken on a coaching role on The Voice, commitments that would complicate any substantial return even if the writers reopened the door. Flashbacks remain theoretically possible; a regular presence does not.

Santos indicated that Green himself had hoped for more time on the show, joking about “hoping” he would “stick around longer.” The joke sat against the reality of a career already split between music and television. When the end came, he left in a way that only deepened the crew’s affection.

Flowers on the way out

On his final day, Green was already scheduled to fly out and perform the same night. Santos recalled that as he got into the car, arrangements were in motion for flowers to be delivered to the hair-and-makeup team. “He’s very sweet. He was so kind to our cast and our crew,” she said. “I mean, the day that he wrapped, he was flying out—he was performing in a show that night—and while he was getting in the car, he was already having flowers delivered for the hair-and-makeup team to say thank you.”

The gesture helps explain why the disappointment lasted for weeks. The crew was not only losing a character; they were losing a colleague who had treated the department with visible appreciation up to the last minute.

What Garrett’s exit costs the story

For some viewers, Garrett’s death also closed a narrative window. Green’s character, alongside Logan Marshall-Green’s Cal, had begun to sketch in Kayce’s military background—an area of the Yellowstone mythos that fans had long wanted expanded. With Garrett gone, that history will have to be explored through other means if Season 2 pursues it at all.

Santos’s comments do not suggest a production in crisis. They describe a focused, human reaction to a single creative choice: a well-liked actor in a supporting role was written out, and the people who saw him every morning on the makeup truck took it hard.

Season 2 and the wider landscape

Marshals is expected to return with its core cast intact, even if some characters—Cal and Belle among them—sit in precarious narrative positions. Garrett will not be among them in the present tense. Dutton Ranch, meanwhile, has moved past its own reported frictions, with Harris, Reilly and Hauser publicly oriented toward the next season.

The Yellowstone spin-offs continue to generate both on-screen conflict and off-screen anecdote. In the case of Marshals Season 1, the lasting behind-the-scenes story is not a feud between stars or a clash with the showrunner over billing. It is simpler: a country singer played a short-lived role, treated the crew well, sent flowers on his way to a gig, and left a hair-and-makeup team upset for weeks that he would not be coming back.