Mostof the attention on the new Marshals trailer focused on whether or not Monica Dutton would return. You can be forgiven for missing the return of another major Yellowstone character.
No, the “train station” doesn’t walk and talk but it does play a large part in the original Taylor Sheridan show’s lore. It’s back, for an episode at least.
Related: Is the Train Station On Yellowstone Based On a Real Place?
Kayce Dutton does not look pleased.
What Is the Train Station on Yellowstone?
The train station is first mentioned during Season 1 of Yellowstone. A ranch hand named Fred misbehaves but he knows too much about the Dutton family’s sins to just get fired. So, Lloyd drives him into Wyoming where he’s pushed over a cliff.
“The long black train” are the final words Fred hears before he’s shot in the head.
From there, we see Dutton allies dump bodies over the same cliff and over time learn that this has been going on for decades (or longer, as prequel 1923 indicates). Understandably, viewers had one question:
Is the Train Station Based On a Real Place?
Taylor Sheridan has never confirmed it, but mostYS fans believe the idea for this lawless stretch of land comes from a real-life “zone of death.” It’sa slice of Idaho and (to the best our knowledge) no bodies have been tossed over a cliff there.
A50-mile stretch of land fallsoutside of any jurisdiction because it’s part of Yellowstone National Park and nobody lives within both the state and district. Thus, you can’t get find 12 people to form a jury to convict someone of a crime committed.
There are several legal holes to this. Most glaring is that a crime would need to have been planned and committed in this little slice of America. Someone shot elsewhere and brought to the Zone of Death could still seek justice where the shooting took place.
Read More: Marshals: Everything We Know About the Yellowstone Spinoff
Kayce Dutton knew all about the train station. It was his family’s single vulnerability — the secret that would ruin them. So, it was a little funny to see his reaction when he’s driven into it by his new Marshals team.
The Train Station Returns To Marshals
The first half of the new Marshals trailer attempts to tell us why Kayce (played by Luke Grimes) joins the U.S. Marshals, hinting strongly that Monica’s (Kelsey Asbille) death pushed him back into law enforcement.
Our full breakdown shows why she may in fact be alive and well, but that’s another article. Skip to the 4:20 mark here to see the part where the new show’s plot focuses on this zone of death.
It’s clearly a tie between the two shows because this fictitious place of lawlessness is in Wyoming, not Idaho, and we see a Welcome to Wyoming sign just before the camera cuts to Kayce who has a very anxious look on is face.
It’d be very cool if those old secrets came back to haunt him, but it seems unlikely if only because the secret to most CBS procedurals is to not spend too much time on the past. We very well may forget this is a Yellowstone spinoff by the end of Season 1.
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Gallery Credit: Billy Dukes