It Wasn't The Lack Of Love: Why Matt & Kitty Really Never Wed On Gunsmoke

Matt Dillon and Kitty Russell famously never wed on "Gunsmoke." And if you've spent any time trawling a subreddit about the show on Reddit, there's a good chance you know many fans are still mad about it to this day. However, James Arness, who played Dillon, saw things differently. The world has a complicated relationship with will-they-won't-they onscreen dynamics, but there's no question that they keep viewers dialed in, and in the case of the beloved, long-running Western, Matt and Kitty's relationship has continued to keep people talking even decades after "Gunsmoke" ended in 1975 . Some have mused that a relationship was implied, while many others pointed out that the nature of Matt's job as a U.S. Marshal was too risky for him to have a public romance (let alone a marriage). Sure enough, many years prior to Reddit's existence, Arness himself hinted at both theories in an interview with SCV Press Club.

"I think it just would have changed the whole premise of the show. The idea was that Matt had his job that he had to do, which was potentially a dangerous job, and you would have had a different show if he had been married and had kids," he argued in 2006 (via JamesArness.com). The actor added that he believed it was fairly obvious that the two had a lot of time for each other. Asked whether Matt loved Kitty, the "Gunsmoke" star confirmed, "Oh! There is no question about that." For those who wish they could have seen that play out rather than imagine it, fan fiction pics have floated around the internet for years, with one even showing Kitty and Matt in full wedding attire. On Reddit, one fan described it as: "The 'Gunsmoke' happy ending we all hoped for."

Elsewhere, James Arness also discussed Matt Dillon and Kitty Russell's relationship in 2002, for the Television Academy Interviews archive. Once again, the actor openly acknowledged that having an established boyfriend-girlfriend-and-eventually-married relationship would have been detrimental. "You'd have to change the character and nature of the show. I mean, if you had Matt and Kitty have an onscreen love affair [...] They'd have to get married or something, and then [...] You'd have a different show there," he noted (via YouTube). 

That said, their dynamic obviously drew in a ton of viewers. "We used to get a lot of mail from people, particularly women, saying 'Why didn't you get Matt and Kitty together more?' and all, and I think they always felt that, hey, that's the kind of mail that we want to get, you know, you want to have them eager to tune in and see [...] So they kept it at that level purposely," Arness revealed, adding, "I think it worked out awfully well." As for fans, they seem to feel the same way, even if there is some residual disappointment. 

"Everything was left up to our imagination, and I have accepted that. If they had kissed on-screen it would have been nice but the mystery and sexual tension would have lessened," one Redditor wrote. They added, "It was fun watching for the eye contact between them, the glances, their body language [...] If you were a romantic you could see all the subtle and not so subtle signs." Between the central relationship keeping fans on tenterhooks to Miss Kitty's worst hairdo on "Gunsmoke," which has actually aged like fine wine, and the storyline itself, this landmark Western drama clearly remains a major talking point for a reason.