In this weekend’s new episode of Alaskan Bush People, the Brown family is heading home. Siblings Bird, Bear, and Rain all head back to Browntown in Alaska to reconnect with their past after spending so much time away from the place that shaped their lives. Meanwhile, the Browns remaining at North Star Ranch in Washington are still rebuilding from the wildfires that ravaged the state last year. In an exclusive preview clip for PopCulture.com, the Brown siblings share why they are excited about heading back to Alaska.
Based on the narration, Bear was a late addition to the trip, as Rain and Bird first planned on going themselves. “All my wildness, all my extremeness, it really began in Alaska,” Bear, 34, told the camera. “It just really has made me want to go back and to just go to where I was when I was a kid to discover something new about myself. Alaska to me will always be home and it holds a special place in my heart.”
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For Rain, the trip means something else. The 18-year-old will go back to Alaska with a new perspective. “Being that I’m almost 18, I am looking forward to going to Alaska with kind of a new perspective because when we were there, I was a kid,” she said. “You know, my childhood was free, but it wasn’t quite free in the way that everybody else was.” Later, Bird, 26, is shown packing a hairball so her cats can “join” her on the way.
Some of the episodes this season were filmed before the death of patriarch Billy Brown, who died on Feb. 7, 2021, at age 68. Bird’s decision to go back to Alaska appears to have been filmed before February, as a previous episode showed Billy having misgivings about her going back. “When Bird said she wanted to go back to Alaska, I was like ‘Is she crazy? What’s going on here?’” Billy told the camera. “But I know she misses it. She left a great love there. You know and she had to, for us.”
The Season 13 premiere touched on Brown’s death, as members of the family reflected on his legacy. The show even aired the moment his son Gabe, 31, called 911 to ask for an ambulance after Billy suffered a seizure. “Looking back, Dad knew his time in this world was coming to an end, and we can see now he was laying out a plan for us, preparing us to achieve the vision,” Bird said in the premiere. “If only we understood his plan sooner. Life now is unlike anything we’ve faced before. We’ll never give up our fight for total freedom, but can we do it without Dad?” New episodes of Alaskan Bush People air Sundays at 8 p.m. ET and are available to stream on Paramount+.ย
