Taylor Sheridan's New 'Yellowstone' Spin-Off Debuts With One of the Lowest Rotten Tomatoes Scores of His Career

2 days ago 11

Published Feb 25, 2026, 1:00 PM EST

Chris is a Senior News Writer for Collider. He can be found in an IMAX screen, with his eyes watering and his ears bleeding for his own pleasure. He joined the news team in 2022 and accidentally fell upwards into a senior position despite his best efforts.

For reasons unknown, he enjoys analyzing box office receipts, giant sharks, and has become known as the go-to man for all things Bosch, Mission: Impossible and Christopher Nolan in Collider's news division. Recently, he found himself yeehawing along to the Dutton saga on the Yellowstone Ranch.

He is proficient in sarcasm, wit, Photoshop and working unfeasibly long hours. Amongst his passions sit the likes of the history of the Walt Disney Company, the construction of theme parks, steam trains and binge-watching Gilmore Girls with a coffee that is just hot enough to scald him.

His obsession with the Apple TV+ series Silo is the subject of mockery within the Senior News channel, where his feelings about Taylor Sheridan's work are enough to make his fellow writers roll their eyes.

Kayce Dutton may have left the Yellowstone Ranch behind, but he hasn’t exactly traded in his boots. The cowboy-turned-Navy SEAL-turned-lawman is back in the saddle — only this time, he’s wearing a U.S. Marshal’s badge. Earlier this week, as part of Collider’s Exclusive Spring Preview, we debuted a first-look sneak peek at Marshals, the upcoming sequel spin-off to Yellowstone starring Luke Grimes. The footage wastes no time establishing the central tension of the series: Kayce’s old-school, horseback instincts colliding with the structured world of federal law enforcement. But while the premise is strong and the Western DNA is intact, early reviews suggest the show hasn’t fully convinced critics following Taylor Sheridan's departure from Paramount.

Currently sitting at 60% on Rotten Tomatoes based on early reviews, Marshals has received mixed critical reception — a noticeable shift for a franchise that has typically thrived on fan enthusiasm and cultural dominance. Currently, only 5 reviews for the highly anticipated spin-off have been posted on the review aggregator, so the score is expected to change in the coming days. The official logline reads:

“With the Yellowstone Ranch behind him, Kayce Dutton joins an elite unit of U.S. Marshals, combining his skills as a cowboy and Navy SEAL to bring range justice to Montana, where he and his teammates must balance family, duty and the high psychological cost that comes with serving as the last line of defense in the region’s war on violence.”

Is 'Marshals' Worth Watching?

Collider’s positive review stated that Marshals wisely refuses to be Yellowstone 2.0, instead carving out a more procedural, network-friendly identity that gives Kayce Dutton room to grow — even if the transition comes with a few growing pains. Collider's Michael John Petty did note drawbacks to the network shift. Dialogue can feel repetitive, exposition-heavy, and occasionally blunt — especially early on. The tighter 42-minute runtime leaves less breathing room than Sheridan’s cable storytelling allowed. Still, the action remains present, and the tone suits Kayce’s more mission-oriented arc.

"Ultimately, Marshals is described as a series with strong potential. It may lack the prestige-TV swagger of its predecessor, but its procedural focus gives Kayce a clearer path forward. Marshals is a neo-Western that is chock-full of potential. It's action-packed, thrilling, and full of everything you could ask for in a Kayce Dutton-led series that fights hard to divorce itself from the Currently sitting at 60% on Rotten Tomatoes"Y" that still lingers in the background. It's not perfect, nor does it claim to be, but once it gets through the initial growing pains, it will be able to stand firmly on its own. The chemistry between Grimes and Marshall-Green is exactly what the bond between two ex-SEALs should be, and it's not hard to like the rest of the Marshals cast as well, especially as we begin to learn more about them."

Marshals premieres on CBS on March 1 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.