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| 1883 | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | 1883: A Yellowstone Origin Story[1] |
| Genre | Westerndrama |
| Created by | Taylor Sheridan |
| Based on | |
| Written by | Taylor Sheridan |
| Directed by |
|
| Starring | |
| Narrated by | Isabel May |
| Composers |
|
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 10 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producer | David Hutkin |
| Cinematography | Ben Richardson |
| Editors |
|
| Camera setup | Single-camera |
| Running time | 44–67 minutes |
| Production companies |
|
| Original release | |
| Network | Paramount+ |
| Release | December 19, 2021 (2021-12-19) – February 27, 2022 (2022-02-27) |
| Related | |
1883 is an AmericanWesterndramaminiseries created byTaylor Sheridan that premiered on December 19, 2021, onParamount+. The series is chronologically the first of severalprequels toYellowstone (2018–24) and is the second television series in theYellowstone franchise. It starsSam Elliott,Tim McGraw,Faith Hill,Isabel May,LaMonica Garrett,Marc Rissmann, Audie Rick,Eric Nelsen,James Landry Hébert, and Noah Le Gros in main roles. Narrated by May, the series details how the Dutton family came to own the land that became the Yellowstone Ranch. Consisting of ten episodes, the series concluded on February 27, 2022.[2][3][4]
1883 was followed by1923, which premiered on December 18, 2022, with May reprising her role as narrator.
The series follows thepost–Civil War generation of the Dutton family as they leaveTennessee, journey toFort Worth, Texas, and join awagon train undertaking the arduous journey west toOregon (the Duttons are never on the actualOregon Trail itself), before settling inMontana to establish what would eventually become the Yellowstone Ranch.
| No. | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [23] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "1883" | Taylor Sheridan | Taylor Sheridan | December 19, 2021 (2021-12-19) | |
In aflashforward, Elsa Dutton watches in late 1883 as a group ofpioneers are slaughtered by a band ofLakota on theGreat Plains. She kills one, before being surrounded. Months earlier, formerUnion Army captain Shea Brennan cremates his wife and daughter after they die ofsmallpox. His partner Thomas arrives and prevents him from committing suicide when he informs him of aPinkerton job inFort Worth, Texas. Shea and Thomas depart for Fort Worth and observe James Dutton kill thieves who attempt to rob hiscovered wagon. Meanwhile, James' family: his wife, Margaret; 17-year-old daughter, Elsa; 5-year-old son, John; his sister, Claire; and Claire's teenage daughter, Mary Abel, travel to Fort Worth fromTennessee via train. James continues to encounter antagonistic criminals in town, while Shea and Thomas meet with a group of inexperienced European immigrants who pay them for an escort toOregon. After the Duttons arrive, the family stays at a hotel, and a drunken man enters Elsa's room and attempts to rape her before being killed by James. Realizing a partnership would be advantageous, Shea convinces James to accompany thewagon train to Oregon. | |||||
| 2 | "Behind Us, a Cliff" | Ben Richardson | Taylor Sheridan | December 19, 2021 (2021-12-19) | |
In aflashback to September 17, 1862,Confederate Captain James Dutton is comforted byUnion GeneralGeorge Meade following the Southern loss at theBattle of Antietam. In the present, Shea, James, and Thomas prepare for the journey west. Shea hires twocowboys, Wade and Ennis, to help catch and escortferal cattle. As the wagon train departs, tensions rise between the Americans and the immigrants, as interpreter Josef struggles to keep his group in line with Shea's perceived harsh decisions. A group of riders approach the wagon train, resulting in a confrontation caused by Claire throwing rocks at the leader. A shootout ensues, leaving Mary Abel and some immigrants dead. Shea, Thomas, James, and Josef team up withJim Courtright to track down the killers to a crowded saloon. Distraught at losing her daughter, Claire commits suicide, and the group continues west. | |||||
| 3 | "River" | Christina Alexandra Voros | Taylor Sheridan | December 26, 2021 (2021-12-26) | |
The inexperienced immigrants find themselves at the nature's mercy; namelydysentery and fatalrattlesnake bites. Approaching theBrazos River, Shea and James disagree on how to best cross; Shea opts for caution while James wants to cross quickly. Shea learns that two of the immigrants have been stealing food and forces them out of the group. Shea rebuffs the advances of a newly widowedRomani woman named Noemi. Elsa begins assisting the cowboys with the cattle and begins a flirtatious relationship with Ennis. A frustrated immigrant challenges and fails to overcome Shea. James takes John hunting and gives Ennis permission tocourt Elsa. | |||||
| 4 | "The Crossing" | Christina Alexandra Voros | Taylor Sheridan | January 9, 2022 (2022-01-09) | |
Elsa embraces thecowgirl lifestyle and becomes smitten with Ennis. Thomas offers Noemi help and protection, but refuses her offer of marriage. James and his family opt to cross the river during the night and attempt to help the immigrants cross the following day. However, the crossing proves fatal for several of the immigrants who lack swimming experience. Once across, the group continues west. | |||||
| 5 | "The Fangs of Freedom" | Christina Alexandra Voros | Taylor Sheridan | January 16, 2022 (2022-01-16) | |
With supplies short after a food wagon is lost in the river crossing, Josef reveals that a thief among them is hoarding the settlers' remaining stores. Shea, Thomas, and James confront the thieves, take back the supplies, and banish them from the group. Wade informs Shea and Thomas thatbandits are active in the region. Elsa and Ennis grow closer and the pair have sex, which Margaret witnesses from afar. Elsa receives harsh words from her mother about her decisions. James confronts Ennis, who proclaims his love for Elsa, which James acknowledges. Meanwhile, a group of bandits ambush and kill the banished settlers, and the remaining settler group prepare for a fight. In the ensuing battle, Elsa is saved by Ennis, who in turn is shot and dies. Elsa kills Ennis' shooter. | |||||
| 6 | "Boring the Devil" | Ben Richardson | Taylor Sheridan | January 30, 2022 (2022-01-30) | |
Shea shares his empathy with the mourning Elsa. The group stops atDoan's Crossing, on the border ofIndian Territory. There, Shea employs Colton, a cowboy to replace Ennis, and Cookie, a camp cook. Thomas buys a mirror for Noemi, who professes that she loves him and his gift means he loves her back. Elsa confronts a pair ofcatcalling men and draws her gun on them, causing a standoff which James defuses. Margaret gets drunk with Carolyn, a local shopkeeper, and argues with James about how the journey is changing Elsa. | |||||
| 7 | "Lightning Yellow Hair" | Christina Alexandra Voros | Taylor Sheridan | February 6, 2022 (2022-02-06) | |
InComancheria, the settlers pay a tax to theComanche to cross their land. One of the Comanche introduces himself to Elsa as Sam, a name he took from the man who killed his wife. The two race their horses; Elsa wins and Sam nicknames her "Lightning With The Yellow Hair". A storm approaches andtornadoes threaten the group; Sam and Elsa take shelter together and embrace. The tornado devastates the group's wagons and scatters their livestock. The cattle are spotted with a group ofrustlers, so Shea, Thomas, James, and Elsa confront them. Separated from her father, Elsa is attacked by the rustlers until Sam and his partner save her. The rustlers are killed with assistance from Shea's old friend,cattlemanCharles Goodnight. | |||||
| 8 | "The Weep of Surrender" | Ben Richardson | Taylor Sheridan | February 13, 2022 (2022-02-13) | |
With most of the settlers' wagons destroyed and their supplies dangerously low, Shea recommends they cut short their journey and find land to settle nearDenver, Colorado. James insists to Shea that he will continue on to Oregon, and openly challenges Shea's leadership, inviting the remaining settlers to follow him north onto theOregon Trail. Meanwhile, Elsa bonds with Sam; she kills abison and is introduced to Comanche culture. They declare their love for each other and decide to marry. Though Margaret expresses her growing concern for her daughter, Elsa remains defiant. She announces she will escort her family to Oregon, then ride back to Comanche territory to be with Sam. The betrothed pair part as the wagon train continues west. | |||||
| 9 | "Racing Clouds" | Ben Richardson | Taylor Sheridan | February 20, 2022 (2022-02-20) | |
InLakota territory, the dwindling group is beset by further tragedy when Josef is bitten by a rattlesnake and his wife is thrown from her horse, the accident leaving her comatose and eventually proving fatal. Shea, Thomas, and James come across several murdered Lakota women and children. Realizing they will be blamed for the massacre and hunted by Lakota warriors, they attempt to track and capture the culprits, while the remainder of the group must stay to explain the situation to any returning Lakota. However, at Cookie's insistence, many of the settlers choose instead to flee to a nearbyU.S. Army fort, leaving Elsa and Margaret behind. Shea, Thomas, and James find and kill the culprits, self-appointed deputies of theWyoming Stock Growers Association. The settlers are attacked and many, including Cookie, are killed by the Lakota. Elsa shoots a Lakota warrior, who in turn fires an arrow into her torso. After Elsa defuses the fight by speaking a few words taught to her by Sam, the Lakota leave. Colton is forced to kill a crazed and partiallyscalped Alina. Elsa receives rudimentary treatment for her wound, and James quietly tells Margaret that Elsa is going to die. | |||||
| 10 | "This Is Not Your Heaven" | Ben Richardson | Taylor Sheridan | February 27, 2022 (2022-02-27) | |
The wagon train arrives atFort Caspar in theWyoming Territory to find it in possession ofJoseph Maull Carey, the leader of the Wyoming Stock Growers Association. There is no surgeon to help Elsa, though a doctor confirms her wound is life-threatening and advises taking her toFort Laramie. Wade and Colton bid farewell and part ways with the wagon train. Meanwhile, Josef's leg turnsgangrenous and it is amputated. Later, Elsa is treated by a localCrow tribe. Elsa realizes she is going to die, and asks to choose her burial spot. The Crow leader recommendsa valley called 'Paradise' in theMontana Territory for the Duttons to settle, but promises that his people will reclaim the land in seven generations. James and Elsa ride to Paradise before Elsa succumbs to her wound. Beneath a tree, Elsa dies in her father's arms. A year later, Shea arrives at thePacific Ocean; his promise to his late-wife fulfilled, he shoots himself on the beach. Josef, alone and on crutches, begins building his home; Thomas and Noemi arrive in Oregon where they find a location near a river to build their home. | |||||
Paramount has communicated several iterations of their plans for more episodes. In the end, none of these resulted in more episodes of1883.
The show was initially presented as alimited series. In February 2022, Paramount announced that "additional episodes" would follow the first season.[24] It was later announced that the decision to make additional episodes for season one had been reversed. The series would be succeeded by the sequel show1932, later renamed1923.[25] Sheridan considers1883 to be "a 10-hour movie with an ending".[26][27]
In May 2022, Paramount revealed that the announced Sheridan seriesLawmen: Bass Reeves would be a spin-off series to1883, titled1883: The Bass Reeves Story.[28][29][30] This longer title was later dropped and the series was later confirmed to no longer take place in theYellowstone universe.[31][32]
To introduce the new series1883 toYellowstone viewers, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill appeared as James and Margaret Dutton in flashback scenes during the fourth season ofYellowstone to show what life was like on the Dutton ranch in 1893, ten years after the Dutton family arrival in Montana. In the first episode, "Half the Money", James Dutton and his young sons John and Spencer, portrayed respectively by actors Jack Michael Doke and Charlie Stover, encountered starving Native Americans who had left the local reservation to bury their father on their former land that had since become a part of the Dutton Ranch.[33] In the eighth episodeNo Kindness for the Coward, Margaret Dutton and her sons John and Spencer are sitting at the dinner table in their ranch homestead waiting for her husband and their father to return from a dangerous manhunt of horse thieves who plague their territory.[34] TheseYellowstone episodes aired prior to release of1883 onParamount+.
In one of the last scenes in the season 5 finale ofYellowstone,Life Is A Promise, Elsa Dutton, voiced by actress Isabel Mays, returns as narrator to summarize the future of the Yellowstone ranch and how it ties in with Spotted Eagle's prophecy at the end of1883.[35][36]
A month before the premiere of1923 in December 2022, Paramount+ released a trailer in which Elsa, voiced by Isabel May, served as the narrator.[37][38] May also narrated the first episode and informed the audience about the intervening 30 years in the saga of the Duttons between 1893 (the time of flashback scenes on Yellowstone) and the start of series of 1923.[39] Actor LaMonica Garrett served as host in the Paramount+ behind the scenes documentary1923: Inside The Series.[40][41]
In February 2021,Taylor Sheridan signed a five-year deal withViacomCBS and MTV Entertainment Group following the success ofYellowstone. Under the deal, he would create new series for both studios. One of these was a prequel toYellowstone, set to be broadcast onParamount+, initially calledY: 1883.[42] Sheridan said that he struggled withwriter's block after selling the concept to Paramount+, but he managed to overcome it. While working on another series,Mayor of Kingstown, Sheridan noticedIsabel May auditioning for a role on that show. Focusing on the perspective of "what would happen if someone like May left polite society behind" Sheridan completed the 1883 pilot script in a week.[43] The series was allotted a budget of $175 million, and it was eventually produced for $169 million.[44]
Sheridan went on to make Paramount hire May, a relative unknown, before he was even finished writing the script, because "it won't work if we don't get her."[45] As he explained in a December 2022 interview; "When you find talents like Isabel [May], you just want to work with them again, and again, and again, and again."[46]
On August 4, 2021, it was announced thatTim McGraw,Faith Hill andSam Elliott had joined the cast.[5] A further announcement on August 21 confirmed Isabel May and announced thatLaMonica Garrett had joined the cast.[9] On September 10, December 6, and December 10, respectively, it was confirmed thatBilly Bob Thornton,Graham Greene, andTom Hanks had joined as guest stars.[16][21][47]
Filming on the series started in August 2021 inTexas and concluded in Montana in January 2022.[48]
Scenes that took place in urban centers were filmed inDallas, Texas,Fort Worth, Texas andGranbury, Texas. Also, a new, permanent, Western town with 26 structures was built at the Yellowstone Film Ranch. Rural scenes were filmed at a variety of locations, primarily in Texas.[49] The Dutton Ranch scenes were filmed at the real Chief Joseph Ranch[50] inDarby, Montana; the massive home is also used for the series "Yellowstone".[51]
Many of the actors expressed discomfort at the cold temperatures while filming in Montana. StarFaith Hill deemed filming as "the most physically and mentally challenging thing we have ever done."[43] StarSam Elliott also expressed that filming his scenes was difficult, but "we're getting it onscreen, and in the end that's what matters. This is really going to be something special."[43]
Isabel May (who plays Elsa Dutton) discussed Taylor Sheridan's quest for "authenticity" concerning no cosmetics nor shaving of underarm hair. InTown & Country, May emphasized, "Taylor said from the very beginning, 'I want everything to be authentic.' I mean, women didn't start shaving until the 1920s. He really wanted that to be an aspect of the show, and so I was more than happy to oblige."[8]
The series's score was composed byBrian Tyler and Breton Vivian, both of whom worked onYellowstone.
On November 8, 2021, a first-look trailer for the series was released;[52] a full trailer was released on December 3.[53] The series made its TV premiere on December 25, 2021, on CMT. The first episode was run onParamount Network, who ordered the show before they moved it to streaming on affiliated platformParamount+ during its development, as part of promoting the show, like they did withMayor of Kingstown. The series was released onBlu-ray and DVD under the title1883: A Yellowstone Origin Story on August 30, 2022.[1]
1883 received generally positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for its performances, cinematography, and realistic depiction of frontier life. On thereview aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 89% based on 27 reviews, with an average rating of 7.5/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "1883 can feel too overdetermined to be a properly rough-hewn Western, but viewers will want to saddle up forSam Elliott's commanding star turn."[54]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 69 out of 100 based on 12 critic reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[55]
In a review forVariety, Daniel D'Addario described1883 as "stark and unsparing," noting thatTaylor Sheridan "leans into misery with a near-perverse glee" in portraying the hardships of westward expansion.[56] Angie Han ofThe Hollywood Reporter characterized the series as "grim, lyrical, and violent," and praised its production values and sense of scale, while acknowledging its slow pacing.[57]Esquire called the show "a brutally somber and gorgeously shot tale of American beginnings," highlighting the strong emotional core provided by its lead characters.[58]
Common Sense Media emphasized the show's unflinching violence and historical realism, noting that it presents "harsh truths about survival, racism, and the cost of manifest destiny."[59]Decider lauded Elliott's performance, calling him the "emotional anchor" of the series, whileYahoo described his portrayal as "towering and tragic."[60][61] Brian Tallerico ofThe Playlist wrote that the show is "unapologetically brutal," and commended its thematic consistency.[62]The A.V. Club praised1883 for attempting to "rip the rose-colored veneer off American mythology," though it noted that the series occasionally becomes overly self-serious.[63]
In other reviews,The New York Times found the series "visually absorbing" and "emotionally sincere," while also critiquing its "relentless solemnity."[64]CNN described the series as a "gritty, slow-burning Western" that rewards patient viewers with strong character development and high production standards.[65]HistoryNet highlighted the show's attention to historical detail, stating that1883 presents "a remarkably accurate, if dramatized, portrayal of 19th-century pioneer life."[66]
| Award | Date of the ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writers Guild of America Awards | 20 March 2022 | Television: Episodic Drama | Taylor Sheridan(for "1883") | Nominated | [67] |
| Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards | 3–4 September 2022 | Outstanding Cinematography for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie | Ben Richardson(for "1883") | Nominated | [68] |
| Christina Alexandra Voros(for "Lightning Yellow Hair") | Nominated | ||||
| Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score) | Brian Tyler and Breton Vivian(for "1883") | Nominated | |||
| Screen Actors Guild Awards | 26 February 2023 | Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie | Sam Elliott | Won | [69] |
| Satellite Awards | 3 March 2023 | Best Television Series – Drama | 1883 | Nominated | [70] |
Elsa as Narrator: Eighteen years-ago on this day, Lee surrendered to Grant in the home of Wilmer Mclean in the village of Appomattox. A year later, I was born. It was Monday, April 9th, 1883. Monday was my birthday...