“Did That Just Happen?!”: Ashley Cooke Reacts to Seeing Herself in the New ‘Marshals’ Episode

Ashley Cooke has shared a heartwarming video of her reacting to seeing herself in the new episode of Marshals. The Florida native performs her fan-favourite 2023 song, ‘next to you’, during a bar scene towards the end of the second episode.

The Yellowstone spin-off, which is produced by Taylor Sheridan and stars Luke Grimes as Kayce Dutton, premiered at the start of March. It finds Kayce grappling with an unexpected loss in the family, before deciding to join the US Marshals in Montana.

In the clip, the US Marshals team unwind, with the bartender handing Andrea a drink, explaining it's courtesy of the cowboy sat opposite. The same man had tried to hit on her the previous night, to little avail, but this time around, Andrea gives him a shot.

After walking over to him, the camera pans to Cooke, who begins her soulful, intricate offering on-stage. The track is one of the many stand-outs from her debut, shot in the dark.

In a touching new video, Cooke has shared her response to watching this episode live for the first time, with the ‘never til now’ hitmaker joking that she's so surprised at how much screen-time she has been given that it must merely be a “fan-edit”.

Cooke introduces the video, “I'm about to perform my song, ‘next to you’, on Marshals. We're in a hotel room in Fort Worth, watching it live”, before exclaiming, “This is crazy!”

After the episode draws to a close, Cooke endearingly asks, “Did that just happen?”, with the ‘ace’ singer-songwriter looking to her friend in disbelief at how long her clip was.

In the sincere caption to her new video, Cooke explains the story behind ‘next to you’, “i wrote “next to you” by myself at my old apartment kitchen counter the morning after my opry debut. it reminded me of what’s really important in this career (the people around you) and honestly had no expectations of this song ever making it out of the 1st record “deep cut” world… but then [Marshals] called. just goes to show you never know where a song will take ya. so thankful”.

It ensures the momentum remains sky-high behind both Marshals, the latest of many Yellowstone spin-offs from Sheridan, and Cooke, who just dropped her new ace sessions on YouTube. After Cooke's stellar on-screen performance, we can't wait to see what else the fast-emerging country chart-topper has up her sleeve for 2026.

For more on Ashley Cooke, see below: