Yellowstone prequel series 1923 — which features movie stars Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford atop the Dutton family tree
— is returning two years after its season one finale.
The first season of the Taylor Sheridan-created Paramount+ series released its finale back in February 2023. After delays
from that year’s strikes and the long-gestating (maybe) final season of Yellowstone that is currently airing, 1923 now finally has a return date: Sunday, Feb. 23.
Along with the premiere date announcement, the Sheridan-verse has released two teasers and several first-look photos (all below) offering a glimpse into what comes next for 1923‘s Dutton elders when the second and final season of the prequel series returns following the cliffhanger events of season one.
In the two teasers released for 1923 season two, Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) is seen trying to communicate the urgency of his return to his family in Montana, as everyone he left behind finds themselves under attack, as Spencer’s uncle Jacob Dutton (Ford) says in the footage.
For a refresher (warning: spoilers from both 1883 and 1923 are ahead), the second prequel series to Yellowstone followed the next generation of Duttons after the events of first prequel series 1883.
With 1923, Sheridan traced the Dutton family lineage back to Jacob and Cara Dutton, played by Ford and Mirren, the aunt and uncle to Elsa Dutton (Isabel May), who heart-achingly died at the end of 1883; John Dutton Sr. (played by James Badge Dale), who viewers met as a young boy in 1883 and who died in the third episode of 1923; and Spencer Dutton, who 1923 viewers met for the first time, played by Sklenar. The trio’s parents were James Dutton (Tim McGraw) and Margaret Dutton (Faith Hill), who perished between the events of 1883 and 1923. Meanwhile, 1923 is narrated by May’s Elsa from beyond the grave.
The 1923 episode that saw the death of John Dutton Sr. also left Jacob (Ford) severely wounded, prompting his wife Cara (Mirren) to step up and run the Dutton family ranch. The first half of the season served as a prologue to the central 1923 story that would begin to unfold, as the series then turned its focus onto the emerging Dutton-in-command, Spencer, and his soulmate Alex (Julia Schlaepfer). The rest of the season hinged on Spencer and Alex’s transcontinental journey back to Bozeman, Montana, to both save the Dutton ranch and his family from external threats.
But the finale complicated Spencer’s impending return when he and his now-wife, Alex, are separated at sea when Spencer gets banished from their vessel after killing a passenger from Alex’s past who threatened her future. “All I know about part two is that I’m certain there’s going to be a shift in the tone, just for Spencer and the show itself,” Sklenar told The Hollywood Reporter after the finale. “The stakes all around have been raised to a new level [for season two], and the pain and the guilt that he’s carrying into this next part is going to shape him into a version of himself that we haven’t seen yet. If I can speculate as the character, I could see it going there. And then, hopefully, he carries that home and is able to realize his purpose in terms of fighting for his family and saving the ranch.”
In addition to this heartbreaking Titanic-style goodbye for the show’s central romance (the pair are the top guess in Yellowstone-verse theories for who the parents are to Costner’s John Dutton; since they have yet to be identified), emerged a ray of hope with Teonna Rainwater, the breakout Indigenous character played by Aminah Nieves. The season’s eight episodes tracked Teonna’s treacherous journey to freedom, showing in the end how she is a true survivor.
When viewers first met the teenager of Crow descent, Teonna — who hails from the family tree of Yellowstone‘s Chief Rainwater (played by Gil Birmingham) — was being abused for her refusal to culturally assimilate, shining a light on the Indian boarding-school era when Native children were sent to government-funded schools run by the Catholic Church. Teonna murdered the nuns who abused her and escaped, heading on foot through the wilderness where she contended with wolves and men sent on horseback to find and return her to the head priest. In the finale, she ultimately prevails when she is reunited with her father and appears to be falling in love with Pete Plenty Clouds, played by Cole Brings Plenty. (In a real-life tragedy, however, Cole Brings Plenty, the nephew to Yellowstone star and franchise consultant Mo Brings Plenty, went missing and was found dead at age 27 three months after the season two finale aired, in April 2024.)
Back at the Dutton family ranch in 1923, there’s also John Sr.’s son, Jack (played by Darren Mann) and wife Liz (Michelle Randolph, who is now starring in Sheridan’s new series Landman), who was revealed at the end of the season to have had a miscarriage.
The description for 1923 season two reads: “A cruel winter brings new challenges and unfinished business to Jacob (Ford) and Cara (Mirren) back at Dutton ranch. With harsh conditions and adversaries threatening to end the Dutton legacy, Spencer (Sklenar) embarks on an arduous journey home, racing against time to save his family in Montana. Meanwhile, Alexandra (Schlaepfer) sets off on her own harrowing trans-Atlantic journey to find Spencer and reclaim their love.”
The cast also includes Jerome Flynn, Brian Geraghty, Sebastian Roché, Timothy Dalton and Jennifer Carpenter.
Similar to the treacherous journey of 1883, 1923 isn’t for the faint of heart. And there is one season remaining to tell this story of the prohibition-era Wild West during a time of both great drought and expansion, and how this Dutton-centered saga will lead into the events of the flagship series.
Yellowstone, meanwhile, has two episodes remaining of its season 5B, which was announced as the final season in the flagship series, though a sixth season has been in talks with fan-favorite stars Kelly Reilly and Cole Hauser.
Paramount Network will begin a linear re-airing of 1923’s first season this Sunday, Dec. 8, following the new episode of Yellowstone.
