Kelsey Asbille and Luke Grimes -- who play Monica and Kayce Dutton -- say that starring in the contemporary western, Yellowstone, has changed everything for them personally and professionally.
"I think, for both of us, it's had a profound impact on our careers, on our lives," Asbille told UPI in a recent Zoom interview.
"I have a ton of Yellowstone cast-iron pans," she laughed. "I have all the merch. There's so much merch. My family has all the merch. That is life-changing. My dad just has the cast- iron pans in a stack, in the back of his truck, ready to give out, so, it's me, but it's also impacted my family's life."
Grimes joked, "I can't compete with the pans!," then adopted a more serious tone to say, "It's changed my life in every way possible."
"I've never been a part of something that's been so big, so successful, and I've definitely never done a job for seven years before, playing a character for that long," he added.
"So, I feel like I've got friends for life from this job. I feel like it's changed my life. A lot has happened. I moved to Montana because I fell in love with it, so I'm in a completely different place because of this job."
Wrapping up its fifth season Sunday night on the Paramount Network, the series follows the wealthy Duttons' struggles to hold onto the enormous Montana cattle ranch that has been in their family for more than a century.
The last few episodes showed the murder of patriarch John Dutton (Kevin Costner) and the devastated and angry responses of his adult kids Kayce and Beth (Kelly Reilly) over the involvement of their adopted brother Jamie (Wes Bentley) in the shocking crime.
As Beth constantly tries to fire up Kayce to avenge their father's death, Monica provides a grounding, reasonable counterbalance that reminds him what's important -- their marriage, their son Tate (Brecken Merrill) and the ranch that preserves a rapidly disappearing way of life in a pristine landscape.
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"Since Season 1, we've been building into what the Dutton legacy means and I think Monica is an important part of that," Asbille said.
Tate, whom viewers have watched grow up on screen, is also now gently weighing in on decisions that affect the future of the ranch he has always expected to inherit.
"Oh, my goodness, he's a grown-ass man!" Asbille said.
Grimes chimed in: "He grew fast. He was like a small nine-year-old when we started. He was little for his age and now he's a tall 16-year-old. He turned 16 while we were shooting, which was wild. That's how long we've been doing this. He's been sort of the watermark for how long it's actually been."
Asked if they can imagine their characters ever having some down time and going out to dinner or dancing with Beth and her equally intense husband Rip (Cole Hauser), Grimes replied, "I want to see those scenes!"
"That would be a great double date!" Asbille quipped.
"No, I don't think so," Grimes said, reconsidering. "I feel like, as much as [Monica and Kayce] can, they stay away from the drama and then fall into their own drama on accident sometimes."
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