The Yellowstone universe is expanding with 1923 Season 2, which kicked off on February 23 on Paramount+. The second Yellowstone origin story tracks a new generation of the Dutton family, led by Jacob (Harrison Ford) and Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren), who took over the Yellowstone Dutton ranch established by Jacob’s brother, James (Tim McGraw), and his wife, Margaret Dutton (Faith Hill), in 1883.
Jacob and Cara took nephews Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) and John Dutton (James Badge Dale) in as their own after James and Margaret’s deaths in addition to inheriting the ranch. They’ve been the land’s loyal stewards for decades, but Season 1 saw the ranch under threat of being taken over by Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) through a shady property tax scheme.
The series also tracks another ancestor of a Yellowstone mainstay: Aminah Nieves plays Teonna Rainwater, ancestor to Gil Birmingham’s Thomas Rainwater. In Season 2, Teonna is on the run with father Runs His Horse (Michael Spears) and new beau Pete Plenty Clouds (played by the late Cole Brings Plenty in Season 1 and Jeremy Gauna in Season 2) after she escaped from the abusive residential school run by Sebastian Roche’s Father Renaud. They were hunting Teonna down for the murder of Sister Mary (Jennifer Ehle), who frequently abused Teonna at the school.
Spencer and his new wife, Alex (Julia Schlaepfer) are fighting to get back to Montana and each other follows their separation. With John and wife Emma (Marley Shelton) dead, Jacob and Cara desperately need Spencer back to help defend the ranch. Teonna’s fate is a mystery, but she’ll hopefully make it back home with her family. Zane Davis (Brian Geraghty), who is essentially the show’s Rip Wheeler, was also arrested for being in an interracial marriage in the finale, part of Donald’s plot to screw over the Duttons. Helping him in those efforts is Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn), an Irish farmer with a grudge against Jacob.
Will 1923 Season 2 be the end of the story like some cast members have teased? Here’s what there is to know about the Yellowstone prequel’s future.
Will there be a 1923 Season 3?
1923 was originally billed as a limited series, just like 1883 before it. But unlike 1883, it got a second season. The show’s producers remained coy about the possibility of more seasons up until February 2023, the midway mark of Season 1’s release (it first released in December 2022). While Paramount itself has not confirmed that 1923 is ending with Season 2, the cast has said it is.
Sklenar told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023 that 1923 Season 2 will be the final season, saying that both seasons should be considered “one piece.”
“No, no, it’s bookended. It’s still limited, but I think of it as one piece — there’s just a split in the middle, but it’s all one piece. It will conclude,” the It Ends With Us star said. Basically, think of Season 2 as more of a Part 2, with a Part 3 being unlikely at this time.
As of the time of publication, a 1923 renewal has not been announced, nor has there been official word from Paramount+ that Season 2 is the final season. The stakes are so much higher in Season 2, it feels like the series is building up to something epic at the end of the eight-episode season. And the Season 2 premiere raked in a record-setting audience for Paramount+, the platform announced on February 26. This could incentivize the streamer to create more seasons, but cast availability is a major factor.
What will happen in 1923 Season 2?
In a 2024 interview with Forbes, Sklenar seemed confirmed that Spencer will reunite with his family in Montana.
“I’ve had all the scripts for six months. I can confidently say that it’s going to be absolutely incredible,” he said. “The tone shifts a lot and it’s definitely a bit darker. It’s very beautiful.”
“It’s so hard for me to not give away spoilers. I do get plenty of Helen [Mirren] and Harrison [Ford] time, and it’s going to be special,” Sklenar added. Spencer was abroad for all of Season 1, and he and Alex nearly died several times on their adventure throughout Africa and on their way back to Montana.
They were stalked by lions and survived a shipwreck all before they got married on an ocean liner, but they came face-to-face with Alex’s former fiancé on that ship who challenged Spencer to a duel for whisking Alex away. He cheated in the fight, and Spencer killed him when tossing him overboard in self-defense. Spencer was arrested and separated from his love, who promised to meet him at the family ranch. They’ve both faced harrowing obstacles on their solo journeys home in Season 2 so far (Alex faced particularly upsetting challenges at Ellis Island in the third episode — Schlaepfer breaks down the episode here). Unless it’s a flashback sequence, it seems Spencer will make it back to Montana, based on Sklenar’s comments. He also teased the series finale, praising its script.
“I mean, the finale of the series is probably one of the best things I’ve read in my life,” he raved. “I’ve kind of known how it was going to end since day one — Taylor [Sheridan] kind of told me. I knew the full arc of Spencer from day one, so in shooting part one, [you’re] mindful of where he needs to go. I’m really excited.”
What else is happening in the Taylor Sheridan-verse?
Sheridan has a litany of Yellowstone shows and other projects in the works at Paramount, with shows airing both on Paramount Network and exclusively on Paramount+. Yellowstone‘s final season concludes in December 2024, and the Michelle Pfeiffer-led contemporary spinoff The Madison is still in the works. Another modern-day spinoff, 6666 (about the Texas ranch seen in Yellowstone), is also reported still in the pipeline. The next Yellowstone prequel will be 1944, which could feature characters from 1923 given when it’s set.
The creator also has a new western drama, Landman, that debuts in November 2024 and Tulsa King Season 3 is on the horizon. Mayor of Kingstown concludes its third season in August (Season 4 is on the way), and Lawmen: Bass Reeves is said to be an anthology series, though there’s no news yet on if/when there will be a Season 2 (could it star Jennifer Carpenter’s Mamie Fossett, who made her 1923 debut in Season 2 Episode 2?).
This is all to say that it seems that there’s pretty much always a Sheridan series in the works at Paramount these days. While 1923 is supposed to be ending with Season 2, the legacy of its characters will continue in 1944. Let’s hope the Duttons and Rainwaters of 1923 get a happy ending.
