Spoiler Warning: Yellowstone & 1883
The Yellowstone franchise made one of its biggest casting announcements yet, attaching two huge a-listers to its upcoming second prequel series 1932. The show will chronicle the dynamic and struggles of the Dutton family as they work to successfully run their ranch through the Great Depression years.
1932 comes on the heels of the gut-wrenching, life-altering, world-shattering prequel series 1883, a beautiful and devastating show. 1883 is known for gutting even the actors who starred in it, completely destroying emotionally the leads Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, who are together parents of daughters in real life. At the end of the series, this long-married couple, on and off the screen, had to live with the tragic, triumphant, haunting death of their free-spirited and adventurous daughter Elsa.
The actress behind Elsa, the show's breakout star, Isabel May, played the character with legendary passion, love, and sensitivity. She gets choked up during interviews when asked about the character. Yellowstone, the show that started it all and cemented Taylor Sheridan's status as a profound, passionate writer and showrunning genius, took television by storm for its depth of character exploration and intricate drama and its striking feminist themes and performance by actress Kelly Reilly.
1883 blew those already significant achievements right out of the water. It is a beautiful depiction of women navigating coming of age milestones, gender roles, assertion of identity, and courageous and dignified acceptance of all life throws at young women even in the most heartbreaking circumstances. We can only brace ourselves for all the emotions 1932 will fill us with, but hopefully, it will be equally breathtaking while not quite as Earth-shattering this time around.
What can we expect to see in 1932 after the sweeping and pleasantly surprising success of Paramount Plus' 1883? Few details have been released about Yellowstone season 5, let alone 6, except for its impending release date. Still, nonetheless, we can expect that events will transpire in 1932 to impact the current day Dutton family, helmed by Kevin Costner, in intriguing ways to come.
Here's everything we know and expect from Yellowstone's second prequel!
1932: The Plot
There's a lot to speculate about regarding this series. It has great potential, and it is riveting to consider what historical events, trends, and backstory it will utilize and expand on. Elsa's younger brother, James and Margaret Dutton's son from 1883, is probably the family patriarch of the Dutton family in 1932, as it takes place forty-nine years after the Duttons first ventured into the Wild West. It's plausible that the youngest member of the family at that time, only a small boy, could have survived to the 1930s.
Little is known about the plot of the series so far, but the 1920s and 1930s, historically, were infamously fraught with many of the terrors we have been facing in recent years. The '30s were marked primarily by the Great Depression and following the Spanish Flu epidemic that killed millions, the wild, roaring '20s, and the prohibition era. This gives the Dutton family of the '30's a lot of potential obstacles to contend with to ensure the survival of the family and the family's land. The series will undoubtedly lead into future seasons of Yellowstone in ways that 1883 really couldn't, simply by virtue of being set so far back in the family's timeline.
1883 primarily drew parallels between Elsa's legacy and her relationship with her parents and Beth Dutton's (played by Reilly) complicated relationship with her father, John Dutton (Kevin Costner), and their family's land. 1883 can add emotional beef for these two family members in the present day but leaves little logistical clues or dirty family secrets, if you will, for future seasons of Yellowstone to exploit. Unless you count 1883's ending when James Dutton agrees to return the land to the Native Americans who have lived on it for centuries, a few generations down the line. That pact could come directly play into Yellowstone's official, final end.
However, focusing on the now is potentially where 1932 comes in. It is a much more recent prequel, taking place during a similarly contentious era. For now, we can only speculate on how 1932 will tie into future Yellowstone.
1932: The Cast
It has been announced that Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren have been cast in the series, though the characters they will be playing remain undisclosed. It is expected that these two powerhouse actors will reprise the respective roles of patriarch and matriarch of the Dutton family in this era of their history. Seeing such strong and talented leads rule the mighty ranch family side by side would be wildly exciting to viewers.
1932: Release Date
1932 has a general release date announced for December of this year, just a month after Yellowstone season 5 is to air. We are excited to see what the creators have in store and see the Dutton family's lore grow even more!