The turning point of 1923 has already happened, and as the Yellowstone prequel gets ready for the second half of its first season, creator Taylor Sheridan’s vision is becoming clearer.
“I chose 1923 because you see the children we met in 1883 trying to raise another generation of Duttons,” says Sheridan in a Paramount+ video.
When explaining why he chose 1923 to trace the Dutton Family Tree, the creator says that the next prequel chapter in the Yellowstone universe takes place during “a time of great drought, a time of Prohibition, and a time of all this expansion — the Wild West was really becoming a relevant center of resources.”
Young John, played by Audie Rick, was the only child who was still alive in 1883. When he grew up, he became John Dutton Sr., played by James Badge Dale. Elsa, John’s older sister, played by Isabel May, came back to tell the story of 1923. By the end of 1883, their brother Spencer, played by Brandon Sklenar, had not yet been born.
The third episode of 1923, in which Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren play Yellowstone elders Jacob and Cara Dutton, brought the show’s opening minutes, in which narrator May gave a sad hint about what would happen, full circle when it killed John, Cara’s older brother.
Jacob Ford’s nephew, John Sr., was shot and killed in a gunfight between Jacob and the whole Dutton family. Banner Creigton (Jerome Flynn) and his men attacked the Duttons as they traveled by horse and wagon. In an act of revenge, John Sr. was killed and Jacob was badly hurt. John Srson .’s Jack (Darren Mann) and his fiancee, Elizabeth, were also hurt (Michelle Randolph).
And the attack set off a series of events that led up to the midseason finale on January 8. (the final four episodes return on Feb. 5). Cara took her husband’s place at the town hall Livestock Association meeting to keep the ranch’s enemies from finding out about Jacob’s injury. Jack and the ranch hands also prepared for battle, and Spencer, Jacob’s other nephew, who has been on his own journey in South Africa with his new fiancée Alex (Julia Schlaepfer), has finally read Cara’s letter asking him to come home to defend his family and the ranch in this desperate time of need.
When THR asked Dale what his character’s death meant, the actor said that the first half of the season is like a prologue to the whole story of 1923. He said, “It’s a way for the story to get Spencer back home.” “The way I see it, the first three episodes are sort of like an introduction. This is the beginning of the story. The story starts with the first scene you see in the first episode.
In the first scene of 1923, Cara shot and killed a man in the woods and then ran away screaming. The third episode then put all the pieces together by showing Cara’s reaction to the bloody gun battle as a flash-forward to that moment. But May’s words from the beginning of the show were also important.
May explained in voiceover what happened to her family after her heartbreaking death at the end of 1883. James Dutton (Tim McGraw) and Margaret (Faith Hill), her parents, died after the events of 1883. James died first, and then Margaret died after him. But before she died, Margaret wrote a letter to Jacob, the brother of her husband. Jacob then found John Sr. and Spencer, Elsa’s other brothers, and raised them.
Elsa said, “After my father died, my mother wrote to his brother and begged him to move his family to this wild land and save hers.” “A year later, when he came back, he found my mother frozen in a snowdrift, and her two boys were half-starved and could barely talk. He took care of them as if they were his own and turned my father’s dream into an empire. The empire fell apart.”
Yellowstone viewers will remember that a flashback in season four introduced James and Margaret, as well as a young John and Spencer when James was shot. That scene was the audition for the real-life couple McGraw and Hill, which gave Sheridan the idea to put them in 1883.
Now that John Sr. has died, the focus of 1923 shifts to Spencer, setting him up as the Dutton who will run the ranch. Recent events have also drawn attention to Jack, who has already started to help out until his uncle arrives.
In the video teaser for 1923’s return, Sklenar says, “From my point of view, it’s a love story.” “Be committed to yourself, your partner, your family, your purpose, and your partner.”
Schlaepfer calls the story “This Epic Adventure” and says that the show is filmed in Montana, South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, and Malta, which are all on three different continents. “It’s really a big trip back home to Montana, which is where the Duttons are at their core.”
The rest of the season is also set up by Mirren. “Survival is the biggest challenge,” she says. “Surviving in a time of big changes, especially in a young country like America. Let’s put it this way: the dam is about to break. The dam is getting more and more crowded.” She goes on to say that what’s coming is “Awesome” in the full sense of the word.
And in the only upcoming footage, Ford is seen telling someone at the ranch, “This must be done right or we lose everything,” which is similar to what he told THR about his hopes for the ambitious series, which has been picked up for two seasons.
Ford says, “Until now, [Jacob] has had to deal with complaints on his own, without help from the government,” to set the stage for what’s to come. He says, “I don’t know what the future holds. People still want him dead, that much is clear. People still want his ranch, we know. Other people in his family are also in danger. It’s a big story that takes place all over the world and has a lot of different threads that all come together at the right time.”
Check out the video above to hear what Robert Patrick, Brian Geraghty, Timothy Dalton, Aminah Nieves, and Marley Shelton, along with the rest of the cast, have to say about 1923 before the Paramount+ show comes back on February 5.