Thanks to 1883’s recent debut on cable, more and more fans are falling in love with this early generation of Duttons in Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone spin-off. Many are wondering: Will there be an 1883 Season 2? We have the answer below.
A prequel to Taylor Sheridan’s beloved western drama Yellowstone, 1883 follows John Dutton’s ancestors as they escape poverty in Texas and embark on a treacherous journey through the Great Plains to Montana. The historical series features real-life couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill as James and Margaret Dutton, Sam Elliot as cowboy Shea Brennan, Isabel May as Elsa Dutton and more. Also created by Sheridan, the show premiered on Paramount+ in December 2021.
Starting on June 18, 2023, episodes of 1883 will air weekly on the Paramount Network. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the two-episode premiere drew 3.8 million viewers on its first night. Isabel May, who plays Elsa Dutton, spoke to our sister site about what it’s like reintroducing her character to a whole new audience on cable. “I love that character so much,” she said. “She kind of makes me weepy as well. When you get to play a person that you’d like to be and that exemplifies grace and passion and bravery, you want that kind of character to reach peoples’ hearts,” the actress explained. “I’m thrilled that it may be reintroduced to people who have yet to experience her and that story.”
As for the show’s lead stars, James and Margaret, McGraw revealed to Variety in May 2022 how he got involved in the Yellowstone prequel. Sheridan called and asked the country singer to play James. “I said, ‘I would be interested in it only if it was something really cool because I don’t want to be like some singing cowboy that comes through the bunk house and gets taken to the train station,’” McGraw recalled. “He said ‘Give me a week.’ So a week later he called and he had this idea of doing flashbacks on Yellowstone of me being the original Dutton, who founded the Yellowstone ranch.”
Then, Sheridan asked McGraw if he thought his wife, Faith Hill, would be interested in playing his on-screen wife. “So I asked her and I called him back and said, ‘Yeah, we talked about it.’ We were like, ‘We’ll go spend a couple weeks in Montana. We’ll shoot a couple flashbacks. We’ll have fun. We like the show. That’ll be the end of it.’” The real-life husband-and-wife duo first appeared in flashback scenes in Yellowstone.
So, will there be an 1883 Season 2? See the answer and what the creator had to say below.
Will there be an 1883 Season 2?
Will there be an 1883 Season 2? Unfortunately, no. The show’s creator, Taylor Sheridan, told Deadline in February 2022 that there will not be a second season. He explained that he wrapped up the story for good and its intentional that you don’t get to see how some characters “move on.” Instead, the show was followed by the sequel, 1923, and will have its own spin-off, Lawman: Bass Reeves
“We wanted to make a 10-hour movie with an ending, and that’s what we did,” the
Initially, Paramount Plus said we would be getting more episodes of 1883. But in the dramatic season finale in which many of the main characters were killed, many were left confused about what those episodes could entail. The show’s lead, Tim McGraw, felt a similar way. When also asked by Variety what James and Margaret would be up to in Season 2, the country star responded: “Look, we’d done all the river crossings, all the snake bites, all the shootouts,” McGraw said. “Just about everything you could do in a western, we did in the first season. So I don’t know how you could continue to do that in another season and make it interesting.”
Now, it appears as though the additional 1883 episodes were referring to the 1883 spin-off, Lawman: Bass Reeves, which will tell a standalone story following Bass Reeves, the famed law enforcement officer who was born into enslavement. Bass Reeves will star David Oyelowo in the leading role and will bring back Yellowstone favorite Mo Brings Plenty.
After 1883, Sheridan shifted his focus to 1923, which follows the Duttons 40 years after 1883 was set. Starring Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, the family must now endure new struggles in the cloud of Montana’s great depression, from lawlessness and prohibition to cattle theft. Sheridan said that his goal with 1923 was to make it a complete story with “common roots.” “My goal with the next one [1923] would be that you could never have seen 1883 or Yellowstone, and still have a fully realized experience as a viewer,” the creator said at the time.
Like its predecessor, 1923 also achieved excellent streaming numbers on Paramount Plus and went on to become the most-watched premiere in 2022. After its success, 1923 was renewed for a second season, but production has been halted as of June 2023 due to the ongoing writer’s strike. Additionally, the Yellowstone-verse will be getting another spin-off, 6666, based on the legendary Four sixes ranch Sheridan purchased in Texas.