The Cast of '1883' Interview: Building a New Chapter in the Yellowstone Legacy
Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Lamonica Garrett and Isabel May talk about how to balance being both the roots of the Dutton family, and an entirely new branch.
Paramount+ have seemingly gone all in with newly prolific writer and creator Taylor Sheridan and his Yellowstone universe. With 1883 already breaking records for the streaming service, wrangling the largest viewership of any of Paramount show for the premiere episodes, they look to the future with a proposed second spin-off. In the meantime, 1883 has the complex situation of being the first spin-off to test the possible dysentery-filled waters, while setting the foundation for the Dutton family audience have grown to obsess over in the original Yellowstone. 1883 is literally both the future and the past of this universe, and if the first three episodes are any indication, the audience’s reactions are founded. These waters are cool and clear, and a great place to set up roots.
The cast, including country superstar Tim McGraw, with his on and off-screen partner, the equally super Faith Hill, as well as newcomer Isabel May know the Dutton staples audiences have grown accustom to seeing. Both Yellowstone and 1883, at the very center of it, is all about family. About protecting those you love, and ensuring not only do they survive, but that they thrive.
McGraw, who already has onscreen chemistry with his real life partner, Hill seemingly feels at home with many of the other cast members, creating a very familiar atmosphere. The onscreen/off screen marriage between McGraw and Hill isn’t the only manner in which art is imitating life. “It was almost an audible gasp from the whole cast because [Isabel] looks so much like one of our daughters”. McGraw speaks about his new television daughter with a smile on his face. “So when we all walked on set together, everybody was like, ‘oh my god, there, there's no doubt that she can be your daughter’. But we spent a lot of time together. She's an incredible young lady and, and there's we I think all three of us have such a great chemistry together. And it really shows on screen…. it naturally turns into, to me talking to one of my daughters”.
“When [Taylor Sheridan] started sending Faith and I the script for 1883 It was literally the best stuff that I’d ever read. I mean, it’s just beautiful.”
The bond between McGraw’s James Dutton and May’s Elsa mirrors that insanely tight-knit relationship between Kevin Costner’s John Dutton and his fiery daddy’s girl Beth (Kelly Reilly) on Yellowstone, and it’s important not only to address that familiar relationship but how this new generation of Duttons sows an already planted seed of the Dutton women. Hill says she hopes fans of the Yellowstone universe recognize something of Beth in her or Isabel’s character. “I could only hope that people, people draw some of our qualities and characteristics and [think] Beth reflects that a little bit. That would be awesome. [She’s] one of the best characters ever, and I think our characters are pretty wonderful too. When you're fighting for something, especially as a woman, just watch out because women are fierce when they fight.” Especially Dutton Women.
McGraw, Elliott, and Lamonica Garrett.
Taylor Sheridan has shown some amazing range in terms of his writing, garnering the praise of his cast and critics alike. For a man who an so clearly write for the male demographic in terms of testosterone-fuelled country-boy violence, Sheridan shows a deft touch in representing the feminine side. “When he started sending Faith and I the script for 1883 It was literally the best stuff that I'd ever read. All the scripts I've read throughout my career, all the books I've read; the narration from Elsa and how it carries the show is just pure poetry. I mean, it's just beautiful.” McGraw adds. He also talks about how he’s had several opportunities come his way, and yet nothing felt quite as right as 1883 in terms of making the jump to a regular television series. A notion mirrored by the icon Sam Elliott; a man who is no stranger to the genre or the entertainment industry. “I’ve played these kind of characters before. But there's, there's a lot more going on with Shea than other cowboys I’ve played. I think other Western characters that I've played seem to be a little one dimensional, in some ways. Some of the other ones may be not so interesting, [so] that's been a challenge… to do justice to Taylor’s script. [When] you get a piece of brilliant material like Taylor Sheridan gives you… you want to do it justice.” Elliott adds that while this project is ‘monstrous’ in size and scope, and certainly a physical challenge for the veteran actor, now in his 70’s, that everyone is seemingly on the same page to bring Sheridan’s vision of the birth of the Dutton ranch to light. “Nobody's laying around our trailers on this thing. Everybody's there and everybody's giving it their all and when I say everybody, I'm talking about the crew as well as the gas it's, it's, it's a well oiled machine and we're all working together and we're all focused on the end product.”
1883 is Now streaming on Paramount+
Check out the entire series of interviews with the cast:
