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SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers for “A Dream and A Memory,” the series finale of “1923,” now streaming on Paramount+.
The “Yellowstone” saga has spent seasons and several series building up the might of the Dutton family’s cattle ranch. But the series finale of its latest spinoff prequel, “1923,” confirms the real family legacy has always been a never-ending cycle of tragedy.
In the two-hour Season 2 finale, Alex (Julia Schlaepfer) and Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) finally reunited after being ripped apart on their journey home to save the Dutton ranch at the end of Season 1. But the reunion was fleeting. Alex, in particular, has endured unimaginable hardships during her travels, from being violated by a doctor at Ellis Island, to being sexually assaulted by a train guest, to being physically assaulted and robbed at Grand Central Station. She finally found friends in a generous British couple charmed by her love story, who offered to drive her to Spencer’s family ranch, only for a snowstorm to trap them in a blizzard that claims her chauffeurs and leaves her to, it appears, freeze to death.
Thanks to a twist of fate and convenient storytelling from writer and creator Taylor Sheridan, her potential vehicular grave just so happened to stall beside the train tracks that were carrying Spencer home as well. After running into each other’s arms, the pregnant Alex is taken to Bozeman to be treated for severe frostbite and hypothermia, both of which were advancing quickly and would kill her if they didn’t amputate her legs and hand, and abort her induced pregnancy. But she protests that she could not choose herself over her child, whom she delivers very prematurely and cradles as the necropsy overtakes her extremities and kills her. After all of that, Alex never even sees the ranch!
“Alex has changed who Julia is, forever,” Schlaepfer tells Variety. “I am so grateful for it, but it was a doozy this season. That is for sure. It was quite the challenge.”
During all this, a hit has been put out on Spencer, the heir-apparent to the ranch. When his train reaches Bozeman, a gunfight ensues between allies of his uncle Jacob (Harrison Ford) and the goons of Whitfield (Timothy Dalton), the businessman looking to kill every last Dutton so he can turn their ranch into Montana’s first tourist resort. Spencer manages to subdue the assault and even make it to the ranch to assist his shotgun-toting aunt, Cara (Helen Mirren). But then he goes back to the hospital and lays with Alex as she dies.
A voiceover reveals Spencer lives 45 more years, raising his and Alex’s son, John Dutton II (the father of Kevin Costner’s character from “Yellowstone”). He never remarried, but does have another son with an unnamed widow. Then, he is seen laying down on Alex’s grave to die, reuniting with her one last time in a heavenly 1920s party sequence, a la “Titanic.”
And that’s it for “1923.” Variety has confirmed the series is over and will cede the stage to “1944,” the next “Yellowstone” prequel installment in the works from Paramount. While there is no word on who or what “1944” will focus on besides the impacts of World War II on the Dutton family, the series finale offers some clues. The Whitfield threat is over, as Spencer puts a bullet in the sadist’s head. Ford’s gruff 80-year-old character seemingly retires with Spencer back home, and while he’s a resilient man, it’s not likely he and his belly of bullet wounds would live to be over 100. The best candidate is Spencer and Alex’s son, John, who will have grown up in the 20-year time jump. But would Sklenar want to tell the stories of Spencer without Alex?
“Listen, I know that “1944” is a thing that they are planning on doing here, and maybe we see Spencer in 1944,” he says. “That is something I would be interested in doing.”
As “1923” concludes, Variety spoke to Schlaepfer and Sklenar about their first reactions to the grim finale, bracing for the fan reactions and the poignant final scene they shot together.
This finale, for so many reasons, is wild. There is not really any other way to put it. What were your first reactions to the end of Spencer and Julia’s love story? Were you happy with the ending?
Julia Schlaepfer: Well, for me personally, I was just sobbing for a very long time after reading it. The whole entire script, you are just crying the whole time. It’s wild because it is so devastating because we have been with these characters for three years, so really when Alex dies, a chunk of me dies with her. But it was the greatest honor of all time to get to bring that character to life, and I love her so much. It’s just really heartbreaking.
Brandon Sklenar: I mean, that finale episode is just written so profoundly well, even compared to everything else [Taylor Sheridan] wrote this season. It carries a certain weight because the stakes are so much higher, like through the roof. But that finale, I mean, I couldn’t even prep that episode. I couldn’t read it without losing my shit and crying, genuinely. It just became this chunk in my [script] book that I couldn’t look at. Those final scenes where she and I are in the hospital together, I was just reading those lines and I’m like, “How did he come up with this shit?” It is ridiculous, even rehearsing it. I think about those lines and, even to this day, they make me emotional. So effective and profoundly beautiful. Specifically the heaven scene. The whole [narration from Elsa] of “when old age robbed my brother of his memories, he created his own.” Then, we are in heaven and you are like, “What the fuck?” It is just insane!
Fans of “1923” have really zeroed in on Alex and Spencer’s love story. Are you bracing for what they will think of this tragic ending?
Schlaepfer: Yes, because they are already angry with us because we’re not together! Which I understand, and they totally get that. But I am really excited for them to see it. It’s interesting, even when we filmed the reunion scene, it was the first thing Brandon and I shot back together in Season 2. They saved it, which I don’t think was on accident. Before we filmed that, I was just encountering new people every day, so the language of it was a lot more professional and proper, and a little bit on edge because she didn’t know how someone would treat her or approach her. And then as soon as Spencer and Alex reunite, it genuinely felt like this language barrier dropped, and I felt this rhythm that they have. I mean, they breathe in the same rhythm, and I definitely felt that on the day. I think the whole crew felt it. Everyone got a little misty eyed. So I hope the fans are happy they are back together, but I know that they wish they would have been brought back together sooner.
Sklenar: Oh yeah, the thing is, like so many scenes in this show, but especially in the finale when I see her and I jump off the train into the snow, on the day you could feel that this was going to be a thing. If you are feeling it, and the crew is feeling it, chances are the audience will be too. Like Jules said, that is the first time we had worked together on Season 2, looking at each other and running toward each other as those characters, and it was definitely a trip.
If the big reunion scene was the first scene you shot together this season, what was the last?
Schlaepfer: Oh, you know what it was, Brandon: It’s when they look at each other on the train and Elsa’s voiceover comes in and says that she thought she would never see him again. So our last thing we filmed together was us just staring at each other thinking we would never see each other again as the characters. It was a beautiful cap on all of it, and it was the last day of filming completely.
Sklenar: Yeah, that day was also a trip.
Alex’s death strikingly mirrors the finale of “1883,” which saw the death of yet another Dutton in Spencer’s sister, Elsa (Isabel May), who narrates this series. Did Taylor prepare you for how Alex’s story would reflect Elsa’s so tragically?
Schlaepfer: No, not really. But Taylor had talked to me a bit about what he wanted to write for me. I didn’t know it was going to happen. Actually, I had a feeling Alex was going to die, but he never confirmed it for me. Until he sent me all the scripts one day in an email, and said to call him when I had read them. Of course, there are so many beautiful parallels and all I could say to Taylor was, “Thank you.” I think I have a really cringey text to him just thanking him because it is such an honor to be part of the lineage. Elsa is so beloved, and I love her. So to get to dig into that was something that felt really special and precious to me.
While you’ve interacted over the years promoting the show, this is the first time either of you actually shared scenes or at least sets with Harrison and Helen. What was it like to finally get to play off them and their characters, who are really the counterweights to Spencer and Alex?
Sklenar: It was cool. I had a couple moments, for sure, watching Harrison. In that train scene, when I have Banner’s wife and kid, and I have my hand on the door, Harrison comes in and he looks at me. It’s the first time we are seeing each other in seven years. There is a lot going on in that very small moment, and he gives me that very Harrison Ford subtle smirk. I remember being on his coverage, and he was really into it that day, and I had moments of just watching him and I wasn’t in it at all. It was Brandon watching Harrison. It was cool to have that moment and take it in.
Alex never gets to meet Cara, so you didn’t work with Helen on screen, Julia. But you do have a few key moments with Harrison in the finale. What was it like to have Jacob there for Alex in her final moments?
Schlaepfer: The first day I worked with him was probably my favorite day on set in Season 2, because it was the birth scene. It was toward the back half of filming my chunk of stuff, and I was exhausted and super emotional and just kind of worn out, and he came in. I remember just thinking that I wanted to see how Harrison works, and give him the respect of being the leader here. But he just gave me the floor. He took such good care of me that day. He was a fatherly presence for me in that moment like Jacob is for Alex, and I didn’t realize I needed it. I didn’t realize I just needed a hug! He was just asking if I was OK, and he knew when to crack a joke when things got too heavy. We did our scene together and then just stared at each other and cried for a while.
This story will continue with “1944” and could feasibly feature Spencer and his and Alex’s son, John. Brandon, is that a chapter of Spencer’s story you are interested in telling, even in those years without Alex?
Sklenar: Oh yeah, we are going to do 1933, ‘43, ‘53, ‘63. I’m really looking forward to ‘63. There’s a lot to draw from there. Then there’s Spencer at Woodstock as an old man, I’m looking forward to filming those scenes. I think he would be really big into [Creedence Clearwater Revival].
Schlaepfer: You are going to get yourself into trouble! I’m scared for you.
Sklenar: I know, I know. Listen, I know that “1944” is a thing that they are planning on doing here, and maybe we see Spencer in 1944. That is something I would be interested in doing. I love this character. I’m sure Jules feels the same way, but this is my first television experience, and just walking around with this guy, this character, inside of you for three years, it’s crazy. He is still there. It has affected who I am, it has changed who I am. So I would love to continue to do it in any capacity if I could.
Schlaepfer: It’s exactly like Brandon said. Alex has changed who Julia is, forever. I am so grateful for it, but it was a doozy this season. That is for sure. It was quite the challenge.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
