‘Yellowstone’ Spinoff ‘1923’: New Details Revealed

Some new details have been revealed about the forthcoming Yellowstone spinoff 1923, and the news is sure to thrill fans of the franchise. According to Deadline, the series will now consist of two seasons, each consisting of eight episodes, rather than one. The outlet adds that negotiations are currently underway to bring back the cast, which included Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, for the second season.

The new series will be a prequel to Yellowstone, as well as a sequel to 1883, a Paramount+ exclusive series that followed the Dutton family as they made their journey West nearly 140 years ago. Previously, while speaking to Deadline, franchise creator Taylor Sheridan clarified that 1883 would not have a second season because he did not envision the projects as all one linear storyline. “We wanted to make a ten-hour movie that ended, and that’s what we did.”

Explaining his personal position on crafting a new season of 1883, Sheridan offered, “The goal with 1883, I wanted to tell this really abstract odd structured story. If you were paying attention, I tell you exactly what was going to happen, in the first scene of the first episode [to Elsa and Shea]. And then hopefully made you fall in love with the world, and forget that stuff, and play with your expectations that there’s no way what I’ve already told you could actually happen. To play with structure that way, felt like a new rollercoaster ride for an audience, and hopefully a really reflective and beautiful one.”

“I created this peek through time to show you this one specific journey,” Sheridan said. “I’m not someone who likes to tie everything up in a bow and explain how everyone lived happily ever after, or didn’t.” He continued: “On to the next peek through the window,” a reference to the Yellowstone franchise’s recently announced 1932 prequel spinoff, which will move ahead several decades and follow the Dutton family during the Great Depression.

Regarding how he got 1883 off the ground, Sheridan said, “Typically, and most directors and showrunners will tell you the same thing…there’s what you want to do, what you can afford to do, and what you have time to do. I ignored the last two, and just did what I wanted to do. The network embraced it, or they got out of my way. Whatever way you want to look at it, they let me do it.” He added, “It involved running multiple editorial teams, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There were no weekends on this job, for anybody. I finished the edit, and was still tweaking the season finale of 1883 that you just watched, and finished Thursday. So, we came in under the wire. But we didn’t compromise.”

The award-winning creator wants to “peek through a different window into a different era. Again, I don’t think of any of these as spinoffs, but rather as complete stories that have common roots. My goal with the next one would be that you could never have seen 1883 or Yellowstone, and still have a fully realized experience as a viewer.” Paramount+ subscribers can always catch up on 1883 Season 1 anytime, as all 10 episodes are currently streaming on the service.