The long-awaited debut is coming soon. Riley Green is set to make his acting debut on the Yellowstone spinoff Marshals reportedly on the Sunday, April 19th episode, and I’m sure plenty of fans will be tuning in for that.
Riley will of course appear alongside Luke Grimes, who plays star Kayce Dutton, as Kayce takes on a new role as a U.S. marshal in Montana following the death of his wife, Monica. Riley will appear in multiple episodes, playing a former Navy SEAL named Garrett, who arrives at the ranch, unexpectedly, hoping to lean on his friends Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) and Cal (Logan Marshall-Green) to help “put the demons of his past to rest.”
And during a recent interview with SiriusXM The Highway, Grimes said he thought Riley had the perfect look to play an old SEAL team buddy:
“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. I thought, ‘Man, that’d be kind of cool if he was like in my show.’
I knew what it was going to be and I knew we were getting into 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 like he could be a team guy.”
But Grimes says he wasn’t really doing himself any favors by getting Riley on (aside from the ratings), because of how attractive Riley is, asking “who wants to stand next to him on screen?”, adding that he’s “6’4″ and pretty darn handsome.”
Personally, I think they both hold their own, but I digress…
“I knew I wasn’t doing myself any favors. Who wants to stand next to him on screen? You know what I mean? He’s 6’4″ and pretty darn handsome. But I was like, ‘You know what, man? I think he’d actually be really good at it, and I think this would be a great way in for him.’”
Marshals showrunner Spencer Hudnut knew who Riley was and was excited to write him in, but as Grimes said before, CBS executives made Riley audition like anyone else:
“He was very aware of who Riley was and wrote him a great part. Then the funny thing was, CBS didn’t know who he was as much as we did. They made him audition, and I was like, ‘You’re going to make Riley Green audition for this?’ Like, we wrote him a part, give it to him.
They’re like, ‘No, we want to make sure that, you know, he can act a little bit.’ I was like, ‘Okay.’ So he flew out to Utah and I auditioned with him. We read together and I just thought it was the funniest thing ever that he had to audition for something.”
This will be Riley’s first time acting in a role like this, as he’s been in his own music videos but this is obviously a completely different thing. Grimes said Riley was great, especially considering it was his first time acting, saying that he “crushed it”:
“He did better than any of us expected that he would do. First time ever on a set like that, never acted before — he crushed it.”
Grimes has become friends with Riley throughout this process, and they’ve also written some songs together as Grimes has entered the country music space as an artist, releasing his sophomore album Redbird on Friday. He says Riley has been an example to him in many ways when it comes to navigating the entertainment business as a personality:
“He gives me advice. I think the thing you learn from Riley is how some people are just so good at handling the entertainment business as a personality, and the way he moves through it so effortlessly. There’s a lot to learn there. I don’t think that guy gets nervous.”
For all the talk about this role, I’m just ready to see it, and judging by the Season One trailer, it looks like Riley might be playing some music in the show too as we get a quick glimpse of him sitting around a campfire with a guitar:
