Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) and Monica Long’s (Kelsey Asbille) story in Yellowstone season 5 is heart-wrenching, and rewatching the show’s premiere makes it even sadder.

After seven years of dominating television, Taylor Sheridan’s original neo-Western concluded in November 2024 with the release of Yellowstone season 5, part 2.

The final segment saw Kayce and Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) navigating the financial and emotional fallout of their father’s death, with the premiere of Yellowstone season 5, part 2 revealing John Dutton’s (Kevin Costner) fate.

However, John Dutton’s death was just one of the many tragedies Kayce and Monica faced in Yellowstone’s five seasons. Yellowstone’s series premiere saw Beth and Kayce lose their older brother at the outset of the range war over the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch.

Robert Long (Jeremiah Bitsui) fatally shoots Lee Dutton (Dave Annable), then Kayce shoots Monica’s brother, defending himself as Long raises his gun to fire again. However, the saddest death the couple faces comes in Yellowstone season 5, part 1, and reflecting on the premiere makes it all the more poignant.

Kayce & Monica Wanted A Child In Yellowstone Season 1

Kayce And Monica Discuss Having Another Child Way Before Yellowstone Season 4

In the series premiere of Yellowstone, Kayce and Monica discuss the possibility of having another child. The couple, unburdened by the struggles of the range war, discuss simpler matters.

Monica asks Kayce to pick up a washing machine in Billings, and Dutton tells his wife that John Dutton wants to get to know his grandson better. Despite Kayce’s hesitancy to let John in, he brings the possibility up to Monica, and she agrees to give John more time with their son, Tate (Brecken Merrill), causing them to reflect on their journey as parents.

Monica remarks that Tate will “move away and have a family of his own.” Monica uses the sentiment to relate to John, understanding that she has the power to let him in and give him a fundamental need as a grandparent.

When Kayce jokingly responds, “That is the meanest thing you’ve ever said to me,” about the sentiment that Tate will leave, Monica suggests they conceive another child, and the couple gets intimate. We can therefore assume that Kayce and Monica had been trying to have a child for several years by the time Yellowstone season 5 premiered.

Kayce & Monica Lose John Dutton IV In Yellowstone Season 5

Kayce And Monica Lost Their Second Child After Years Of Hoping For Another

Monica reveals that she’s pregnant in Yellowstone season 4, amid Kayce’s struggle to balance his immediate family and his duties to Yellowstone ranch. Kayce ultimately chooses to prioritize his marriage, prompted by Kayce’s vision in Yellowstone season 4’s finale, which brings him newfound clarity.

However, in Yellowstone season 5’s premiere, Monica loses her and Kayce’s second child on the way to the hospital, getting into a car accident while going into labor.

Knowing that Monica and Kayce had been trying for years certainly worsens the moment for the parents, who bury their child a few chapters later.

Rewatching Yellowstone‘s series premiere is a stark reminder of how much Kayce and Monica struggle throughout the show’s five seasons, evoking a simpler time for the Yellowstone power couple.

While Kayce and Monica may not have been trying to have another baby consistently throughout all five seasons of Yellowstone, the continual conflict over the Dutton Ranch mires the couple. Kayce and Monica were kept from the simpler joys of life, burdened by the task of protecting the largest contiguous ranch in the United States.

Can Monica Have Another Child In Kayce Dutton’s CBS Yellowstone Spinoff?

Will Kayce’s Family Return In His Yellowstone Offshoot?

While it’s certainly not a guarantee, Kayce and Monica can still expand their family as they had hoped to. Despite the original series ending, their story could continue in Kayce Dutton’s Yellowstone spinoff on CBS. Something new for the Yellowstone franchise, Kayce’s continuation will be the first Dutton saga to air on a major broadcast network.

While there’s no word on Kelsey Asbille and Brecken Merrill officially returning, there’s reason to believe that Monica and Tate will appear in Y: Marshals, the tentative title for Kayce’s new show.

It would be difficult to get a sense of Kayce balancing family with duty without featuring Tate and Monica, and a new baby would up the stakes.

The official logline for Dutton’s show notes that Kayce will be “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” (per Deadline).

It sounds like Dutton’s family will be joining him, since it would be difficult to get a sense of Kayce balancing family with duty without featuring Tate and Monica, and a new baby would up the stakes in the Yellowstone spinoff.