Yellowstone Star Luke Grimes’ Montana Reset: Life After His Controversial Move
After turning Kayce Dutton into a household name on Yellowstone, Luke Grimes left Los Angeles for Montana’s Bitterroot Valley. Years later, even as he suits up for CBS’s Marshals, some locals still bristle — what triggered the backlash?
Luke Grimes did the Yellowstone thing where you fall for Montana and never leave. He actually went through with it. The twist: some folks there weren’t exactly thrilled about it.
The move, the show, and why Montana stuck
Grimes, aka Kayce Dutton on Yellowstone (2018–2024), started spending big chunks of time in Montana while filming. After a few years of ping-ponging between sets and Los Angeles, he and his wife, Bianca Rodrigues Grimes, packed up in 2020 and settled in the Bitterroot Valley. In a February chat with Fox News Digital, he said it crept up on him: after shoots up north, going back to LA felt less like returning home and more like leaving it. So he and Bianca made the leap. They’ve since welcomed a son in 2024.
The welcome wagon... did not roll
Here’s where it gets weird. You’d think a guy who helped put modern Montana mythology on TV might get a warm reception. Instead, Grimes says he’s run into the transplant tension you hear about but hope is exaggerated. On The Joe Rogan Experience in March, he described why he keeps a low profile locally and avoids certain spots:
"I can’t go to bars there anymore ‘cause whatever that one idiot is, is at the bar, and he can’t wait to start a fight with me... He gets to sue me or something. I don’t know, but it’s a lose-lose for me."
He also told a story that pretty much sums up the vibe. Friends drove out from California, they all went for a hike, and when they got back to the car, someone had scrawled 'go back' in the dust on the rear window. Because of that kind of thing, he doesn’t publicize exactly where he lives in the valley.
Kayce gets a spinoff, and the skepticism fuels him
After Yellowstone wrapped, Grimes returned as Kayce for Marshals, a CBS spinoff that arrived years after he’d already made Montana home. He knows not everyone had Kayce at the top of their spinoff wish list — in February, he told Entertainment Weekly he’s his own toughest critic and figured other characters might have ranked higher in fan polls. Instead of killing the idea, that lit a fire. He said the goal with Marshals was twofold: give Yellowstone diehards something familiar to hold onto, while also making a show that stands on its own if you’ve never seen a minute of the original. In his view, they got as close to that balance as possible.
Quick timeline
- 2018–2024: Grimes stars as Kayce Dutton on Yellowstone.
- 2020: He and wife Bianca move from Los Angeles to Montana’s Bitterroot Valley after falling for the place during production.
- February (Fox News Digital): He explains the move felt natural over a few years of filming up there.
- March (The Joe Rogan Experience): He says he avoids local bars due to people trying to provoke him, and shares the 'go back' dust-on-the-car story.
- February (Entertainment Weekly): He addresses skepticism about a Kayce-led spinoff and says it pushed him to make Marshals work for both fans and newcomers.
- 2024: He and Bianca welcome a son.
So, yes, the guy moved to the state his show basically turned into a screensaver, and no, not everyone clapped. But he’s still there, still playing Kayce — now on CBS’ Marshals — and still trying to make it something both Yellowstone lifers and first-timers can jump into without a map.