Taylor Sheridan, the creator of "Yellowstone" and the tireless workhorse of Paramount+, has already proven himself a prolific writer with a fully articulate vision of the stories he wants to tell. He has built an impressive list of dramas populated by cowboys, cobras and compromised cops, including three "Yellowstone" spin-offs. Sheridan could probably continue his aggressive expansion with Paramount's blessing. Instead, Sheridan has shrewdly chosen quality over quantity.
“1883,” the first prequel to the “Yellowstone” offshoot, was initially pitched as an open-ended series that would follow the powerful Dutton family's early days as they drove a wagon train west. But Sheridan had second thoughts and decided instead to treat the "Yellowstone" spin-offs as anthologies. Instead of advancing characters from the first season, the next installment of "1883" will star David Oyelowo as Bass Reeves, the real-life black quarterback who racked up caps during the same period.
Creator: Taylor Sheridan
Stars: Harrison Ford, Helen Mirren, Brandon Sklenar
Approaching spin-offs as limited series comes with a host of benefits, including less risk of overwhelming audiences with an ever-expanding, interconnected story. Sheridan improves his chances of winning an Emmy by also creating anthology seasons of "Yellowstone," given the more lenient limited-series categories. But more importantly, the anthology model allows Sheridan to appeal to the kind of marquee actors who are drawn to storytelling on TV but repelled by the long hours and massive time commitment.
In the case of "1923," Sheridan's company includes Helen Mirren and, in his television debut, Harrison Ford. Both 80-year-old Mirren and Ford, neither stranger to badass action, make such a potent couple that their chemistry alone is enough to make "1923" feel like an upgraded version of Sheridan's neo-Western fare. Ford plays Jacob Dutton and Mirren plays Cara, his Irish-born wife.
Set roughly 40 years after the Duttons first laid claim to what would become their sprawling Montana ranch, “1923” finds the family navigating the changing times around them. With the rising tide of Prohibition, these are difficult times, and resentment toward the landed rich is reaching its peak. Much of that resentment is directed at the Duttons, who face the same struggle to maintain their land of plenty as their current relatives. Paraphrasing the late great Notorious B.I.G.: Mo' Montana, Mo' Problems.
One of those issues will involve Banner Creighton, a Scottish-born sheepherder who was first seen rioting because he was denied grazing privileges on the Duttons' land. Flynn's piercing eyes and barely concealed anger suggest that Banner will be a strong foe. And there will be many more enemies to defeat beyond the pilot episode, the only one screened for critics from the first of two eight-episode seasons planned for "1923." “Yellowstone” draws its suspense from the sheer volume of threats surrounding the ranch, and with Timothy Dalton set to step in as a rival rancher, “1923” should be able to recreate the tension beset on all sides.
Despite the promise it suggests, the pilot has an awkward structure that makes it hard to know what will constitute a standard episode once the series progresses. Like "1883," the episode opens with scenes of carnage accompanied by a weary narrator who promises that the Duttons have barely scratched the surface of their coming conflict. (Isabel May retains voiceover duties despite the character's ultimate fate of hers in "1883," adding a literal ghost to the herds of figurative ghosts that haunt Dutton Ranch.)
After introducing Jacob and Cara, along with their nephew John Sr. (James Badge Dale) and son Jack (Darren Mann), and outlining the Duttons' most pressing problems, the focus shifts to a character initially far removed from the Duttons. Dutton. Teonna (Aminah Nieves) is a Native American teenager confined to one of the hideous "boarding schools" of the day, essentially reprogramming centers designed to strip indigenous youth of their culture.
The strict focus on Teonna's suffering is a no-brainer for "1923," if only because Sheridan's work is all too easy to criticize for valuing European settlers at the expense of natives who were forcibly displaced. And her scenes, like the rest of the pilot, are beautifully covered by director Ben Richardson, Sheridan's longtime cinematographer. But the character is so isolated from the others that her scenes still don't feel like part of the same character.
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