1923 Cast Discusses How the Season 2 Finale Links to Yellowstone’s Timeline 

This article contains spoilers for 1923 including the season 2 finale. 

As consumers of entertainment, it’s strange to think of how much power the public possesses over programming. No longer are conversations limited to the antiquated watercooler conversations in cubicle-riddled office spaces – online forums have taken hold where fans across the globe can share their love of a film or show, and even their theories regarding what might happen in the future. It’s also interesting to recognize that stars of these massive properties are not immune to forming their own theories, either. While word of mouth has increased exponentially online, sometimes there are years in between seasons, and even the stars aren’t sure what might happen. 

At the moment, Paramount has asked those of the entertainment journalism press who cover 1923 to kindly not refer to season 2 as “the final season” of this critically successful Yellowstone prequel. Does that mean there could be future seasons? Could there be a made-for-TV film linking the end of this chapter in the Dutton TV legacy and the modern-day generation of Yellowstone? Could it be a completely new series? Some of those options are more likely than others, but truth is, stars of the show Brandon Sklenar, Julia Schlaepfer, Aminah Nieves, and Michelle Randolph are in the same horse-pulled buggy as any fan in not knowing what’s to come.

Those key cast members recently sat down with Den of Geek to discuss the show’s heavy and emotional finale, but also got a chance to look ahead and share theories as to what the future could hold for their characters.

One of the most anticipated moments of the entire two-season run of 1923 was Spencer (Sklenar) finally returning to the Yellowstone Ranch and reuniting with the rest of the Duttons. Spencer was to play a major part in the war against Westfield (Timothy Dutton) and his bid to eliminate the Duttons so he could simply own their land and build his tourism utopia. Creator Taylor Sheridan didn’t disappoint in terms of the highly, highly, highly anticipated final shootout between the forces of Westfield and the Dutton cowboy clan, but it wasn’t the only reason Spencer was eager to get home. In what would become the tearful and impassioned morsel of melodrama fans were eagerly waiting to consume, Spencer reunited with his star-crossed wife, Alexandra (Schlaepfer).

When the tears and the smoke cleared, the epilogue Sheridan gives us through Elsa’s (Isabel May) smoky, Southern narration is that, while Alex sadly passed soon after making it to Montana, their child John, premature by three months, survived. Elsa then continues to tell the audience that her little brother Spencer lived to a ripe old age, well into the late 1960s. 

This was another morsel that fans had been awaiting, as the timeline would indicate this means that “Grampa” Spencer would have been around not only for the birth of baby John III (who would eventually grow into Kevin Costner’s John, in his most modern iteration) but for the first decade of John’s life. Sklenar would like to play it off that this theory isn’t canon, adding that “we can’t confirm or deny that the John in question is the John in question” but ultimately it has to at least mean that Spencer is the link between all three shows – as a child in 1883, as the mustachioed champion of 1923, and as a part of Yellowstone’s upbringing. 

“There’s a Dutton ‘thing’ they all have,” Sklenar says of what a conversation between an elder Spencer and (likely) grandson John would look like. “There’s a certain weight, there’s a certain sense of responsibility, there’s a certain brand of masculinity that’s rooted in very strong principles and morals and a code of ethics, which is ultimately about the love of their family and everything they’ve worked for.”

“I think that’s also why this family is so universally loved,” Sklenar continues. “I could be all over the world and people tell me ‘I love Yellowstone.’ Or shooting a movie in Ireland, and they love it over there. It’s so different, culturally, but there’s a core value there that is just so universal, that anyone can connect with. And I think that is part of what Spencer is – passing down and what he got from his father, and it’s just this whole ethos that Taylor’s created.”

That ethos transcends the Dutton family within the Yellowstone universe to at least one other fan-favorite family, the Rainwaters. In the finale, a beleaguered Teonna (Nieves), now free of the murder charges, sets out on her own. That is, other than the child she carries inside her. Once again, that is a major link to the Yellowstone timeline, but there still remains a substantial gap. In modern times, Thomas Rainwater, (Gil Birmingham), Teonna’s grandson, tells stories about his adoption and growing up not knowing his First Nations heritage. Cue the theories as to what happened in just a few decades to the Rainwater family, and why Thomas was in danger of never knowing where he came from. Could it be that Teona, who is justifiably bitter and afraid of the racism she’s experienced, goes out of her way to hide from the world and hide who they are? 

Nieves shares her theory, arguing that even though Teonna could have easily shut herself off emotionally, it isn’t likely that anything can kill her heart and spirit. “Heartbreak is one of the worst things any person can go through,” she says. “It feels like you, yourself are dying. But I also think T is still fire hearted like they can never run out of love. [She is] a matriarchal, tenacious-ass woman. She still has to have that love within her, to keep going.” 

Randolph’s Elizabeth went through a very similar set of circumstances to Rainwater’s. She too, lost the love of her life when Jack (Darren Mann) was shot in cold blood by Whitaker’s goons. She too, was left without a partner, and pregnant, and last we see she is off to go back home and leave the hellscape that is Montana. 

Elizabeth is one of the only characters to actually walk away from the Dutton family and not end up in a casket. It’s almost a trope that if you’re a part of the family, especially in a prequel chapter, the only way to get out is to be buried six feet down. Even in the modern Yellowstone, family members are literally branded never to escape the ranch completely. 

Her character, who went through a lot this season, and was perhaps justifiably griping and whining for much of it had always known the Dutton’s lifestyle was bad news, and brought nothing but death. 

“I think Elizabeth’s whole arc this season was just learning how to survive,” Randolph says. “Ultimately, she knew if she stayed on the ranch, it would be like signing a death warrant. And she was correct. Jack dies, her father dies, the nurse dies. It’s just continuous. So the end for her was actually more about protecting her baby and wanting her baby to not have the same fate that Jack did”. 

Granted things might be better for Elizabeth away from the Duttons, to raise her child in relative safety, but Randolph believes the ending actually shows that Elizabeth is embracing the Dutton within her. “Elizabeth leaves a different person, and there’s a lot of strength in that final scene, showing that she really is a Dutton woman, caring about her family. I think one day, love exists again. It has to.”

The big question is, does anyone truly get a happy ending in a Taylor Sheridan piece? The writer is notorious for his use of death and loss to really nail a memorable conclusion and ensure his characters have a dramatic arc from beginning to end. Despite her character dying, Julia Schlaepfer certainly defends the depth of Sheridan’s writing, as melancholy as it may be. 

“Taylor’s a sucker for an incredible love story,” she argues. “I think he writes love stories so beautifully.” 

Does that mean she ultimately sees her character’s ending as happy? “It might not be the happy ending that a lot of people wanted. I would have loved to have seen Alex on the ranch with Spencer and the whole family but, when they reunite in that heavenly 1920s ballroom at the end, that’s the story that they’re meant to have”. 

Ultimately, Schlaepfer puts it perfectly and succinctly as to why the Yellowstone legacy continues, and why audience members continue to watch (despite all the heartache). “I think it’s just the most beautiful example of how strong and enduring love is.”

All seven episodes of 1923 season 2 are available to stream on Paramount+ now.

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