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Ending a popular show with a cliffhanger has been a standard practice that dates back to the early days of radio. Eager listeners would have to wait a week to find out if their hero escaped the fire in a burning building, or if the girl strapped to the railroad tracks would be untied before the train caught up with her. In many cases, a cliffhanger is considered a viable way for a show’s production team and creators to maintain a repeat audience while production on the next season or batch of episodes proceed.
It’s a standard practice that allows audience members to really get that soap opera release of endorphins as they finally get answers to their fandom proclivities. What makes this anticipation worse for anyone engulfed in the modern western universe of “Yellowstone” are rumors of discord between certain cast members and the show’s creator Taylor Sheridan. To dissuade some of these rumblings, "Yellowstone" fans have been given a few glimmers of hope in the verified productions of the "1883" spinoff "Bass Reeves" and Mathew McConaughey led "6666". But in the wake of these positives is a current writer's strike that may postpone productions on a few Sheridan penned projects. The one show that could be most affected by the current writer's strike is the "Yellowstone" prequel "1923".
(Warning: Spoilers ahead for '1923' Season 1).
This is what we know storyline wise so far.
Fans of the show will remember it left off with prodigal son Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) being arrested for accidentally throwing his wife Alexandra's (Julia Schlaepfer)’s ex-fiancé overboard. Hey, it happens. Alexandra vows to meet Spencer in Montana, where the Dutton clan is in a fight for their very lives and facing a brutal winter to boot. Jerome Flynn's character as the sheep-herder Banner Creighton and his partner in crime, mining tycoon Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton), have made a savvy play for the Yellowstone. If the Duttons can't pay off their debts, Whitfield will win the deed to the hard-won family seat.
Wow, what a cliff to hang from until, well who knows? Most of the info the media has gathered so far surrounding this second installment of a second season to a second “Yellowstone” prequel has been provided by Sklenar himself. Sklenar has all but confirmed that Spencer Dutton will indeed return to Montana and fight. This section of the story is one of the most anticipated reveals given it had all of season 1 to build the meeting of these rivals up.
"It's going to be a powerful homecoming," Sklenar told Esquire in a February interview. "The man we meet in Episode 1 of Season 2 is a much different man from who we see at the end of this season. So, it's going to be exciting to get into that new version of Spencer."
If this is truly the final season of this prequel, then it’s safe to say many loose ends from season 1 will have to be cleaned up. For example, Aminah Nieves' Teonna Rainwater will likely make it back to Montana, but not unscathed. Maybe Alexandra can funnel some of her aristocratic family's wealth into the Dutton cause. We could also see the passing of an icon in the form of Ford’s character Jacob Dutton. For a while there it looked touch-in-go after he sustained several nearly fatal gunshot wounds in season 1.
Another tidbit of info gleaned from Sklenar in the same Esquire interview is that he expects Season 2 to wrap with an "explosive" finale. We could take this literally given that Whitfield heads a mining company. This could bring the show full circle back to the 2018 series premiere of “Yellowstone” when Rip and Jimmy divert a stream running through the ranch with explosives. This could be a cool fandom cherry to top off the series finale.
Here's a list of all the folks we know will reprise their roles in Season 2:
- Harrison Ford as Jacob Dutton, the brother of the late John Dutton (played by Tim McGraw in 1883) who built the Yellowstone into an empire.
- Helen Mirren as Cara Dutton, Jacob's magnificently capable Irish-born wife.
- Brandon Sklenar as Spencer Dutton, the last living son of John and Margaret Dutton and the heir to the Yellowstone.
- Darren Mann as Jack Dutton, the son of the late John Dutton.
- Michelle Randolph as Elizabeth Dutton, Jack's wife who suffered a miscarriage in Season 1.
- Julia Schlaepfer as Alexandra Dutton, Spencer's British-born wife determined to reunite with him in Montana.
- Aminah Nieves as Teonna Rainwater, a Native teen who escaped an abusive Catholic boarding school. She's probably a descendant of Yellowstone's Chief Thomas Rainwater, played by Gil Birmingham.
- Marley Shelton as Emma Dutton, John's steadfast widow and Jack's mother.
- Jerome Flynn as Banner Creighton, a neighboring sheep-herder determined to take the Duttons' land. Creighton and his men ambushed the family in Season 1, killing John Dutton.
- Timothy Dalton as Donald Whitfield, the head of a mining company with designs on the Yellowstone.
- Sebastian Roché as Father Renaud, the murderous boarding school head who's sent all his men after Teonna
The second season of “1923” was expected to begin filming sometime this year, but the ongoing writers' strike may delay production. There's a chance “1923” fans won't see the second installment until 2024. But have faith: Season 1 began filming in July 2022 and premiered in December 2022.
