‘Yellowstone’ Prequel ‘1883’ Casts ‘Dances With Wolves’ Star

The upcoming Yellowstone prequel, 1883, has added a new actor to its cast, bringing in Dances With Wolves star Graham Greene. According to Collider, Greene will play Spotted Eagle, a Crow elder who helps the Dutton family on their journey to the American West. He joins previously announced main cast members Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Billy Bob Thornton.

Greene has been a working actor for around four decades, and was nominated for an Academy Award, in the Best Supporting Actor category, for his role as Kicking Bird in Dances With Wolves. This is also not his first time working in a Taylor Sheridan project, as Greene appeared in the Yellowstone creator’s critically acclaimed 2017 thriller, Wind River. Most recently he appeared in the horror film Antlers, which tells a bleak story of possession revolving around the wendigo, a legendary Algonquin-lore creature. Greene can also be seen as Whiskey Jack in Season 3 of American Gods.

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Created by Sheridan, 1883 is a Yellowstone prequel that jumps back to tell the story of James and Margaret Dutton, who traveled to Montana more than a century ago to seek a better life. The Dutton family patriarch and matriarch will be played by McGraw and Hill, respectively. Elliott will be playing Shea Brennan, who Deadline described as “a tough-as-nails, handsome cowboy with immense sadness in his past.” Brennan is tasked with “guiding a group from Texas to Montana,” but they will quickly learn that he is not one to “suffer fools.”

In a statement on joining the cast of the new series, Elliott said, “It all starts with the writing, and Taylor Sheridan is a brilliant writer. I think the western genre speaks clearly to both of us.” The former Ranch star continued, “The classic struggles of man against man, man against nature and man against himself. It’s all there, in 1883, and I’m honored to be a part of it.”

Speaking about his approach to filming the new show, Sheridan explained that realism was crucial. “I don’t build a world with visual effects,” he said, per Us Weekly. “I go shoot these corners of the world that people haven’t seen. The audience today is so experienced. They’ve seen so much, so to move the audience becomes more and more difficult. It’s incredibly expensive and very difficult. But we can do it as John Ford did it. When you need 50 wagons, you’re going to see 50 [real] wagons.” 1883 debuts Sunday, December 19 on Paramount+.