Riley Green Reveals He Had to Earn His Marshals Role Despite Friendship With Luke Grimes: 'I Wouldn't Want to Be Given a Part'

Riley Green is friends with Marshals star Luke Grimes. He's a massively popular country singer. His role as Garrett felt, by multiple accounts, like it was written specifically for him. And yet, he still had to audition for it.

That's the way Green wanted it.

The country star opened up about the process of landing his role on the hit CBS Yellowstone spinoff in an interview with Decider, revealing that despite his friendship with Grimes, no favors were called in. Green plays Garrett, a former SEAL Team member and old friend of Kayce Dutton, in what has already been described as the show's strongest episode to date.

"I'm the new guy here," Green said. "Certainly, because I've had a music career doesn't mean that I'm any good at acting. So, I was glad that I got to go read, because it gave me a little confidence that they said, 'OK, you're good enough to do it,' because I had no clue if I was going to be any good."

Riley Green is Glad He Had to Audition for 'Marshals'

The contrast with how other country stars have landed roles on CBS shows is notable. Jelly Roll was offered his part on Fire Country outright, and Kane Brown's role on the same show was written specifically for him. Green's path was different, and by his own account, more meaningful for it.

"I wouldn't want to be given a part because of something I've done in music," he said. "I want to somewhat earn it if I can. I think I skipped a lot of steps by getting a part like this as my first gig, but I'm very thankful that I was given that opportunity."