“Marshals” is off to an impressive start on CBS.
The “Yellowstone” spinoff series launched Sunday to 9.52 million viewers, making it the most-watched scripted series debut without a football lead-in since 2028, according to Nielsen live-plus-same-day and big data panel ratings.
The series, which centers around Luke Grimes’ Kayce Dutton as he joins a new team of U.S. Marshals, landed as the No. 1 show of the week, and now stands as the top series premiere of the 2026-26 TV season in that metric. CBS’ “FBI” holds the title for best scripted show premiere without a football lead-in, having reached 10.06 million viewers back in 2018.
And “Marshals” was the crown jewel of a strong Sunday lineup for the broadcast network, with “60 Minutes” landing 7.21 million viewers at the 7 p.m. hour, “Tracker” landing 8.29 million viewers at 9 p.m. and “Watson” getting 4 million viewewers. CBS shows “Tracker” and “60 Minutes” were the other two series in the top 3 in the past week.
“Marshals” sees Grimes reprising his role of Kayce Dutton, with Brecken Merrill, Gil Birmingham and Mo Brings Plenty also returning as their “Yellowstone” characters. The series premiere revealed that Kayce’s wife Monica, played by Kelsey Asbille on the flagship series, died sometime in the 12-15 months since the events of the “Yellowstone” finale.
“The really great device of our show is that Kacey finds a purpose and a reason to get up in the morning, and that comes from his old SEAL buddy,” Grimes said in February. “Obviously he has his son too, but beyond that we find a really lost man.”
The series also stars Arielle Kebbel, Logan Marshall-Green, Ash Santos and Tatanka Means. It marks the first broadcast series from the “Yellowstone” universe and is produced by Paramount Television Studios and 101 Studios.
“Marshals” airs Sundays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount+.
