‘Yellowstone’ Creator Taylor Sheridan Isn’t Done Telling the Prequel Story of the Dutton Family After ‘1923’
Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan will soon introduce fans to the next prequel in his TV universe — 1923. The series will star Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren as Jacob and Cara Dutton, who will lead the next generation of the family through difficult times in post-World War I Montana. However, this won’t be the last generation of Duttons that fans will get to see. Sheridan has plans to continue telling the prequel story after 1923.
‘Yellowstone’ prequel ‘1923’ is a story of Dutton survival
In the first prequel 1883, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill starred as James and Margaret Dutton. They were the first generation to settle the family’s land in Montana at the location where their daughter Elsa (Isabel May) died.
Forty years later, the next generation of Duttons will hit hard times in the new prequel 1923. It’s set during a time of western expansion. And this post-World War I time period will see the family dealing with prohibition and the coming Great Depression.
Marley Shelton, Michelle Randolph, James Badge Dale, Brian Geraghty, Darren Mann, Aminah Nieves, Jerome Flynn, Sebastian Roché, Tim DeKay, Julia Schlaepfer, Jennifer Ehle and Timothy Dalton round out the cast.
Taylor Sheridan isn’t done telling the Dutton story after ‘1923’
The new prequel 1923 is essentially the second season of 1883. The concept has been such a success for Sheridan that he’s turned the Dutton saga into an anthology where each generation is its own limited series.
Unlike 1883 though, the new prequel 1923 will reportedly get two eight-episode seasons instead of one 10-episode season, per Deadline. What’s more, there will be more Dutton generations in future prequels that will cover the family’s struggle to hang onto the ranch in the 1940s and the 1960s.
The bulk of the action in 1923 will focus on the construction of the sprawling Dutton ranch in Montana, including building the family’s spectacular log cabin that is a major setting in Yellowstone. To get a sense of the scope of the prequel, it’s also shooting in South Africa, Tanzania, and Malta.
‘Yellowstone’ creator Taylor Sheridan writes ‘extraordinary’ scripts according to Harrison Ford
At the 1923 premiere in early December, the cast couldn’t help but gush about the scripts and about Sheridan — who was missing from the red carpet. Instead, he was in a Las Vegas hotel room cutting episodes of the show.
“He’s [Sheridan] an incredible horseman, he’s a genuine athlete, and that’s something you might not expect to find in such a talented writer and intellectual thinker,” Ford told The Hollywood Reporter.
“He’s fabulously hands-off. He presents the script, and it’s so extraordinary that you don’t want to change a word. You want to do it exactly as it’s written because it’s written with incredible precision but without being labored. To be able to be a part of a franchise in a world that is so singular on American television is very exciting. There’s nothing else quite like it,” Mirren said.
1923 premieres Sunday, December 18 on Paramount+. Yellowstone airs Sundays on the Paramount Network.
