‘Marshals’ guest star Riley Green was inspired to pursue acting by Tim McGraw’s performance in Taylor Sheridan’s ‘1883’: “He’s One Of My Favorites”

Country music superstar Riley Green is always looking to broaden his horizons. Despite earning four 2026 Academy of Country Music Awards nominations (including Album of the Year and Artist-Songwriter of the Year), Green remains as humble as ever, especially when it comes to his recent turn on Marshals. Encouraged by his musician friend and series star Luke Grimes to pursue his interest in acting, Green was shocked by how quickly his guest turn came to be. “I didn’t know that the part was necessarily written for me. I just I knew I was going to get an opportunity to read it,” remembered Green. So Green hopped on a flight to Utah—where Marshals primarily is filmed—to audition for the role with Grimes alongside him.

“It’s probably not often that the lead actor of the show reads with one of the guys trying out for some small role, but that was helpful to me,” said Green. “I was so lucky that my intro into acting was something I got to do with somebody who—not only am I great friends with—but who is so talented.” As a fan of the Sherdianverse universe, Green was very familiar with Kayce Dutton and his military past. Green was excited to play Garrett or “Double G,” as he’s known by his two former Navy SEAL team mates, Kayce and Pete “Cal” Calvin (played by Logan Marshall-Green). Garrett is one of the only people who knows what happened to the trio’s friend, Roner, whose mysterious fate clearly traumatized the three men.

It was important for Green to play Garrett—a veteran suffering from PSTD—as authentically as possible. Green admits that he has “no personal experience with what Garrett went through or is going through,” but he notes that there were real-life Navy Seals on set to provide input. “They shared stories with me about some of the guys that they served with and things they’d been through,” said Green. “That was really helpful to me.”

Green spoke to Decider over Zoom to discuss his guest role, share what it was like to work with Grimes, and reveal his acting inspiration: Country music legend Tim McGraw.

DECIDER: Congratulations on your 4 ACMs nominations! Is it important for you to be recognized by your peers at this stage in your career?

RILEY GREEN: I’ve always said that as long as people are listening to the music and coming to shows, awards aren’t all that important to me. But man, I understand how difficult and rare it is to get any kind of recognition from your peers in the music industry. It definitely means a lot. The most meaningful nomination to me was the Artist-Songwriter of the Year because I’ve always considered myself a songwriter first. Probably the most vulnerable thing we do as musicians is to write songs and put them out there.

Obviously, the world of Yellowstone is so vast. Were you familiar with the Sherdianverse before stepping into Marshals?

I watched everything that was out, just like everybody else did. All his movies and TV shows have something special sprinkled on them. Seeing how good Tim McGraw was in 1883… that is probably what got me interested in acting. I’ve gotten to know Tim over the years. In the past, I had it in my head that acting was something you were not born able to do.

You had to go to drama and theater class in high school. You had to be in plays. I didn’t do any of that. I was playing three sports through school and did construction work. When I found out how Tim was able to learn how to act—and certainly learn well—it gave me an idea that maybe it was something I could try. He was one of my favorites on that show.

Speaking of vulnerability, you’re opening up to a whole new side of yourself with your role in Marshals. I know you and Luke had previously spoken about your acting aspirations, but can you tell me how this all came to be?

Luke and I were writing in Nashville, and I mentioned that I was thinking about getting into acting . Without my knowing, he had this show in the works and written a part for me. I didn’t know at that time that the part was necessarily written for me. I just I knew I was going to get an opportunity to read for it. I flew out to Utah and read with him.Hs there during the whole process.

The lead actor of the show does not often read with one of the guys trying out for some small role [laughs]. But his doing so was helpful to me. I was so lucky that my intro into acting was something I got to do with somebody who—not only am I great friends with—but somebody who is so talented. You can’t help but learn when you’re around somebody like that. I love that it happened organically like that.

I can’t believe the network had you fly out to Utah to audition!

In an interview, Luke was kinda joking about them making me read for the role, but that didn’t seem strange to me. I thought: “I’m the new guy here. Just because I’ve had a music career, it doesn’t mean that I’m any good at acting.” I was glad that I got to audition because it gave me a little confidence when they said, “okay, you’re good enough to do it.” Plus, I wouldn’t want to be given a part because of something I’ve done in music. I want to earn it if I can [laughs]. I think I skipped a lot of steps by getting a part like this as my first acting gig, but I’m very thankful that I was given that opportunity.

Garrett is such a complicated character. He’s a veteran, suffering from PTSD and struggling to find his place in the world. How did you prepare?

His character was certainly something that I wanted to get right. I have had no personal experience like what Garrett went through or is going through. Luckily, there were some Navy Seals on set that we could pull aside for questions. They shared stories with me about some of the guys that they served with and things they had been through. That was really helpful to me.

At the end of the day, I just had to dive in. I was also fortunate that they threw me into one of my first scenes, so I didn’t have time to get nervous about it [laughs]. The whole team over there was great, and that’s not always the case. Everyone was so easy to be around and easy to work with. They made me feel welcome and comfortable in a world that I should not have been very comfortable in.

You have collaborated with Luke in the music world. What was it like collaborating with him in front of a camera ?

I don’t know that I would have been able to do it if it was anybody else. He gave me more confidence in myself. I knew he wouldn’t coddle me if I was doing something wrong. That’s what I needed. On set, we all have the same goal. We want to do justice to the characters. It was just so great to have somebody that talented right there to take me under his wing and help me out along the way.

You not only have scenes opposite Luke, but also opposite Logan Marshall-Green who is a real actor’s actor. What was your first impression of him on set?

I don’t know if this is intentional or not—I haven’t asked him this yet—but he was a little reserved when I got to the set. We didn’t talk much. I wasn’t given the full scripts yet so I didn’t know that our characters had a real issue. He was just in the zone. It wasn’t until we finished filming that we really sat down and talked. He’s great. He’s an awesome guy and actually helped me out at the start, whether he meant to or not. The distance he kept at the beginning made filming our first scene together much easier for me.

In tonight’s episode, we see you only holding a guitar, but I hear you get to perform “My Way” in part 2. What was it like filming that?

Filming that was probably more comfortable with that scene than any of the others because it was similar to filming a music video. I wasn’t initially going to perform on the show. However, when I found out that there was a spot in Garrett’s second episode where I could perform a song, I really tried to find something that fit. Lyrically, “My Way” just made the most sense in light of what was going on in Garrett’s story. I was sitting there playing the song for 3 or 4 people, just like you would if you were at a campfire in real life. It was an organic performance that I think will come through in the next episode.

What can you tease about Garrett’s arc in part 2?

Well, I can certainly say that he’s not a cowboy, but what he finds on the ranch is like what Kayce found when he joined with the Marshals, a sense of purpose. Plus, what the trio is facing now provides a distraction from all of the things in the past that, as we find out, really took a toll on all three of them.

Marshals airs CBS on Sunday nights at 8/7c