CBS’s Yellowstone spin-off Marshals was always intended to further flesh out Taylor Sheridan’s Duttonverse – if that’s what we’re calling it – through the specific lens of Kayce. And for the most part, it has accomplished that capably, mostly by exploring some of Kayce’s past and relationships in the Navy SEALs. The back half of the season even reveals his old Navy callsign, which his team leader, Cal, and another old war buddy, Garrett, regularly use as a nickname. And people keep getting it wrong!
Let’s just put this issue to bed once and for all before it drives me crazy.
People Aren’t Calling Kayce “Kyle”
In multiple discussions of this topic, I’ve seen people asking why Cal and Garrett are calling Kayce “Kyle”. They’re not! They’re calling him “Coyo”, short for “Coyote”, which is a pretty significant difference. It’s the accent, I guess.
Some people have theorised that the “Kyle” thing is a way for the Marshals to try and obscure his identity, and because AI overviews tend to be nonsensical, this kind of rubbish has proliferated a little bit. Kayce is one of the most recognisable men in all of Montana. There’s no way he’d be able to keep his identity a secret!
Trust me, it’s the accent.
The Coyote Is Relevant to Kayce
As well as being much more badass in general, the coyote tends to have special significance for Kayce. In the main series, it was kind of his spirit animal, and he would have frequent encounters with one that regularly roamed his land.
In the premiere of Marshals, Kayce kills that coyote when he spots it hassling a calf, which symbolises his transition back into the role of a protector and more ruthless killer following Monica’s death. This also fits with the idea of him shared by his old Navy comrades, who tend to use his callsign as a reminder of his history in elite special operations.
Kayce Is a Changed Man
As well as being a nickname, the idea of the coyote as both a spiritual avatar and cool-sounding callsign is a shorthand way of reiterating that Kayce has been fundamentally changed by Monica’s death. He’s willing to do things now that he probably wouldn’t have been willing to do had she been alive. She was always his anchor, the person who made him feel safe in the absence of his Navy brothers.
The repeated references to “Coyo” are also a reminder that Kayce’s time in the SEALs carries a bunch of unresolved trauma, which is a pretty heavy thematic motif throughout the entire season. A lingering mystery about an ill-fated mission really comes to the forefront when Garrett, the third member of a four-man team that also included Kayce, Cal, and a fellow operator named Roner, turned up unexpectedly on Kayce’s East Camp doorstep.
In Episode 11, Marshals really digs into this backstory, revealing what happened to Roner and why it has so haunted Cal, Kayce, and Garrett ever since. The repeated use of Kayce’s nickname keeps this traumatic history at the forefront of everyone’s minds.
So no, nobody’s calling him Kyle.
