‘Yellowstone’ Prequel ‘1923’ First Trailer Released Ahead of Paramount+ Premiere

Yellowstone prequel 1923 gets its first teaser trailer from Paramount+. The limited series tells the story of the Dutton family in the early 20th century and stars Hollywood legend Harrison Ford and Oscar winner Helen Mirren. The trailer was released during the Paramount Network premiere of Yellowstone’s fifth season. Patriarch Jacob (Ford) and matriarch Cara (Mirren) are the focus of showrunner Taylor Sheridan’s project that examines “the early 20th century, when pandemics, historic drought, the end of Prohibition and the Great Depression all plague the mountain west, and the Duttons who call it home.” The 80-year-old Indiana Jones star will play a leading role in a dramatic television series for the first time. Additionally, the series stars Darren Mann (Animal Kingdom), Michelle Randolph (A Snow White Christmas), James Badge Dale (Hightown), Marley Shelton (Scream), Brian Geraghty (Big Sky), Aminah Nieves (Blueberry) and Jerome Flynn (Game of Thrones). 

The territory has significantly changed since James and Margaret Dutton (Tim McGraw and Faith Hill in the predecessor series, 1883) brought their family here 40 years ago. The show will reveal what happened to them by 1923. However, their children and grandchildren rely on another family patriarch and matriarch as their ranches face automation, local government, and resource shortages. The family is now led by James’ brother, Jacob Dutton (Ford), and wife, Cara (Mirren). “He’s the silverback,” Ford told Vanity Fair. “He’s responsible for that branch of the family. These are two people with a very strong bond to each other who are facing really complicated circumstances.” Mirren believes that their strength lies in their experience. “You need someone who is capable of making decisions, and hopefully making the right decisions, but at least making a decision and going with it—in other words, a leader,” she said. “That’s what has propelled them into this position of running the ranch, running the family, being the linchpin around whom, at this moment in time, the family revolves.”

It was important to Mirren to make Cara represent another aspect of the independent spirit that has long defined American culture. “I see Cara as an immigrant,” said the British-born actress. “One of the things I very strongly wanted was that she would speak with an Irish accent, not with an American accent. It’s always slightly annoyed me with Westerns that you have all these people speaking with modern American accents when in fact so many of them were fairly recent immigrants.” The series follows up on the success of the previous Yellowstone prequel, 1883, which chronicled the Dutton family’s travels from Texas to Montana. An episode of Yellowstone will precede the premiere of 1923 on Dec. 18, and the second episode will air on Jan. 1.