‘Marshals’ Star Logan Marshall-Green Teases a Bumpy Road That Will Put a Wedge Between Cal and Kayce

The CBS series Marshals, already picked up for Season 2, continues following Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) in his life after leaving the Yellowstone Ranch behind. When his former Navy SEAL teammate Pete “Cal” Calvin (Logan Marshall-Green) turns up and recruits the cowboy to the U.S. Marshals team that he’s leading, they immediately find themselves in the middle of clashes between ranchers and locals and the Broken Rock reservation. While navigating what brotherhood looks like in Montana, the toll of violence and the psychological cost are apparent in both men, but Cal has demons of his own that threaten to put a wedge between them.

Collider recently got the opportunity to chat with Marshall-Green about joining the Yellowstone universe. During the interview, he talked about how easy it was to form a brotherhood with Grimes, reuniting with Quarry director Greg Yaitanes for the first two episodes of the series, being a part of SEAL Team on horseback, what he was most interested in when it came to Cal, collaborating with showrunner Spencer Hudnut, hidden motives and past issues that could make things rockier for this team, how he feels about the portrayal of violence, that Cal is looking for love, the country music performances, and what it’s like to pull off the action sequences.

‘Marshals’ Reunited Logan Marshall-Green With ‘Quarry’ Director Greg Yaitanes

“I knew what I was going to get, and it made things a lot easier for me to say yes to the process.”

Collider: While I love that this series has you working with Greg Yaitanes again, and he’s directing the first couple of episodes, it also reminds me of how salty I am and always will be that we didn’t get more of Quarry. What was it like to have him at the helm of these episodes, and to have him really be the one to set the look and feel of this series? And when you work with him, does it remind you of the fact that you never got to do more of that show?

LOGAN MARSHALL-GREEN: I think we probably talked about it daily, and we always have. It’s something that, hopefully, you never know, maybe it has a second season in the future. I know Greg and the boys (creators Michael D. Fuller and Graham Gordy) and I would all love to make another season if we could. And it really helped because we really got shot out of a cannon [with Marshals]. I think I had the offer, and we were shooting about two weeks later, maybe less than. And so, to know that Yaitanes was going to be there, and I already had a creative language and rhythm with him, I knew what I was going to get, and it made things a lot easier for me to say yes to the process.

When it comes to doing a project like this, where all the pieces are there for this to be a big success, so it could end up being on TV for multiple seasons, and the most time that you’ve spent on one TV series is about 20 episodes, did you have to think about that and how it would feel if you were playing this guy for a while? Were there things that you needed to be there to feel like he was someone that had room to grow?

MARSHALL-GREEN: I didn’t really think about a second season. I never do. For me, it’s just about the sentence I’m saying. If you get too into, “How are we going to move this guy into a second season?” so much can happen. It takes away from the moment. I was actually somewhat keen on making sure everybody kept their stakes as high as they could in each beat and didn’t get too far ahead of themselves. It’s very easy to see this as a very good equation that could work for many years. But as far as the character went, I wanted the character as three-dimensional as I could get him from (showrunner) Spencer [Hudnut] now, this season. Spencer really delivered, as you will see. It actually starts to move away from a procedural and into a much more character-driven drama, really starts to shine mid-season to the end of the season. There is a lot going on with Cal by the end of the season, and I was really happy with the direction that Spencer took him.

This is also the kind of project where the longer it goes on, the more of a chance there is that the actors might direct an episode of the series. Is that something you’ve thought about or considered doing it all?

MARSHALL-GREEN: I don’t think anybody wants me directing them in this cast. We’re all really good friends. It’s a very, very friendly cast and crew. We had a lot of work, but it made every day so great to know that you were coming in with a cast and crew that was really lovely. I think Luke [Grimes] maybe has his eye on directing some episodes in the future. I could see Luke being a very cool-under-pressure director, knowing the story and knowing the cast around him. But I don’t know if they would have me directing anytime soon.

One of the things that makes this TV series cool is that you get the cowboy and horse-riding feel of the Old West, mixed with the weapons and technology of being a modern-day soldier and lawman. Was it the combination of those things, with the added bonus of the character dynamics and relationships, that made this appealing?

MARSHALL-GREEN: Yeah. I won’t lie, the idea, as it was pitched to me, was SEAL Team on horseback. But it was more about who these men and women were protecting that really sealed the deal for me. I came to understand that this was going to have a lot of indigenous storylines and characters, and I was so happy to see that come to fruition. I love the indigenous storylines. They’re my favorite part of this show. With Mo Brings Plenty, Gil [Birmingham], Brecken [Merrill], and Tatanka [Means], I really loved not just working with them but watching them work and watching the story play into storylines that are not normally told. We were playing men and women fighting, a lot of times, for the indigenous peoples and their rights, and I love that.

Things Won’t Just Be Smooth Sailing for the Team in ‘Marshals’

“Cal didn’t just fall into Montana and become the team leader because Kayce was there.”

I love that it’s part of the team as well because it keeps it in the forefront. It could have been much more in the background, but because you have a team member that’s faces certain issues with that, it keeps it a present part of the story. The choices of the individuals Cal has selected for this team seems very deliberate. What do you think he was hoping for by bringing this group of people together? What is he hope he’ll get from this team and from them working with each other?

MARSHALL-GREEN: It’s like a Voltron. If he’s the head, Kayce is the sword, Tatanka is the heart, Ash is the brains, and Belle is the disguise, or the info. Those five qualities really start to intertwine in a really interesting way that brings not just the team together but actually starts to break them apart too. By the end, the Voltron does not necessarily work so well. Cal didn’t just fall into Montana and become the team leader because Kayce was there. Kayce just happened to be there after he had gotten most of the team together. He came there for a totally different reason, completely separate from the SEALs and from the Marshals, and that will be revealed very soon.

He doesn’t just talk about his past, but he talks about how past demons in himself help him recognize that in Kayce. Is some of that also going to resurface? He seems like he’s got himself together in the beginning, but when you have a past, that seems to always come back at some point.

MARSHALL-GREEN: Yes, it will come back. The past will haunt them, literally. Spencer did a great job. You start to break away from the linear procedural as the season goes on and you start to understand, through flashbacks, an event that happened in Afghanistan. There’s a big ghost, literally and figuratively, haunting them from the SEAL team. A lot of that starts to actually break up the affable dynamic between the two, Kayce and Cal. It starts to really put a wedge between them. It’s really well done. If you keep watching, you’ll see the show start to break away from somewhat being a procedural.

Luke Grimes and Logan Marshall-Green Have Formed Their Own Brotherhood While Working on ‘Marshals’

“He makes it easy for anyone to have a natural rapport.”

Because there is that brotherhood with Kayce and Cal, you need to find that brotherhood with Luke Grimes. As actors, as co-stars and as scene partners, what have you enjoyed about finding that with him and really building that relationship over the season?

MARSHALL-GREEN: One of the things about Luke is that he’s really grounded. He’s a super down-to-earth guy. He makes it easy for anyone to have a natural rapport. And he made it easier for me because we’re all there because of him, but he really allowed the relationship to grow. He really didn’t want to know what I knew, and there are a lot of things that I know that he doesn’t. I thought that was very smart of him because it allowed him, as the relationship starts to break down, to have it be much more organic on his side. He’s just an easygoing guy. Finding a brotherhood is also really easy when you’re just thrown to the wolves like we were. We were completely shot out of a cannon.

There are moments of violence throughout these episodes, and these characters do kill people when they have to. There is talk about how it weighs on them in different ways. How do you feel about how that’s handled in this series? Do you appreciate the fact that it does weigh on them and that it’s something that they notice in themselves and each other?

MARSHALL-GREEN: To be completely honest, one death is enough. Not that I have killed someone to truly know, but I have read books on it, and I’ve studied a lot, and I’ve worked on men who were soldiers or hitmen or have made bad mistakes. There’s a lot of death in this. For me, if anything, the show needs to slow down and smell those dead roses a little bit more. But it’s a procedural and there’s really not enough time to debrief it. In the end, these are two SEALs who have neutralized a lot of people, for better or for worse. You will see, like with Belle and Miles in the first episode, putting someone down is much different to them than it is to these two SEALs. I think that is an important distinction, and I do think Spencer handles it well. But that’s just me as an audience member.

There’s clearly something interesting going on between Cal and the bartender. What is that about? Is it fun to show a different side of him and to have him be a little bit more playful at times, with all the other heaviness that’s happening?

MARSHALL-GREEN: Yeah. He’s looking for love, and he’s hoping Maddie will give him some love. I won’t go any further into that.

It also seems pretty cool that you get to hang out in a bar on the show with country singers performing? Do you guys actually get to enjoy those performances?

MARSHALL-GREEN: Yeah, we do. That’s something that Greg was really adamant about, finding that element. It’s in a lot of his work, as you know with Quarry. One of my favorite things about Quarry was the live music that was in almost every single episode, that really emphasized Memphis’ history. That’s something that they brought into the bar and into the show. There are some real country singers who have shown up and really given their talents to the show. I was happy to hear it. It always makes the production value a little better when you’ve got some live musicians.

What’s it like to do the big shoot-outs and figure out the staging for those scenes, especially with that big action sequence in episode two where there are so many pieces to it?

MARSHALL-GREEN: It’s rehearsals, and then hopefully another rehearsal with camera. Before even that, it’s just some Hot Wheel cars and some Army men and women in the dirt with the crew around them, or on the hood of a car or truck, so that you can see the play that’s happening. That is incredibly advantageous, if you can take that time and have that time to rehearse it, but also just to see it from a bird’s eye, to understand those beats and where the camera’s going to be firing away and from which direction. It’s a lot of work and a lot of dust getting cleaned out of your nose and your ass.

Ex-Navy SEALs Help Keep the Action Sequences Authentic for ‘Marshals’

“It was always watched, and our silhouettes were constantly scrutinized.”

There’s always the question of having enough time to prepare and successfully accomplish something like that, especially on a broadcast network series.

MARSHALL-GREEN: You hope that the show makes time to rehearse it. I’m from the theater, and we just simply don’t rehearse enough in TV and film. Ryan Sangster, our military consultant, is an ex-SEAL, and Matt, our stunt coordinator, were constantly working. They’d run from the shoot to go prep the next shoot-out. Even just entering a building as a team takes coordination and choreography. We have to be there and understand what a muscle flag is or what looks right. It was always watched, and our silhouettes were constantly scrutinized, thank God, by some legitimate SEALs. There’s a SEAL running the stunts and choreography. There’s a SEAL writing. I was very happy to have that. And the prop master, Lenny, and his team were always there at the rehearsals, getting us ready to go to with the tools that we were going to have to play with. It’s not just rehearsing. You have to get into the gear. You have to feel what it feels like to breathe and sweat and own that silhouette. It takes a lot of work.

Marshals airs on CBS and is available to stream on Paramount+.