1923: Harrison Ford & Helen Mirren watched Yellowstone’s “Some.”

The Yellowstone universe continues to expand.

It began in 2021 with the Dutton family tree stretching back in time to ‘1883’ starring Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, and now we’re moving 40 years into the future of this series with the arrival of ‘1923’. The 1923 Duttons find themselves caught between the wild, untamed world of 1883 and the mechanized urban landscape being built around them. This new generation of Duttons struggles with immigration issues and a world where ranching is a thing of the past.

Having legendary actor Harrison Ford host this series is a major selling point, and a lot of what drew him to the project was how episodic television has changed. “The old model of episodic television doesn’t really fit this project,” Ford told IndieWire via Zoom. “It’s not designed to be a TV [show].” Given the size of the filming locations, Ford said he could easily see this extensively written series getting a theatrical release.

This juxtaposition and embrace of natural land was what drew Ford, who plays this story’s Dutton patriarch, Jacob. “I love the great outdoors,” said Ford. “I came to see the changes in the West and this story… You’ll see that a lot of the elements of change start here.” Viewers get a taste of it in the first episode alone of what’s to come, including a drought, a competition for weed, and a little thing called the Great Depression.

The depression marks a small change for the “Yellowstone” universe. If you look at Yellowstone, the Duttons aren’t usually affected by national changes, but here the characters are influenced by the Depression. “The Duttons seem protected by their wealth, but their wealth is their land. It’s not cash. So you’re living at the limit from season to season,” Ford said.

This difference in feel may be why Ford admitted he hadn’t seen “Yellowstone” in full. “I’ve seen a lot of it,” he said. “I admire it… and that [is] developed by the same people, so it shares a lot of the same ambitions. But that’s a different time, so it’s a very different feeling.”

This desire to keep the various “Yellowstone”-inspired worlds separate was aided by Helen Mirren, who plays Jacob’s Irish wife, Cara. Mirren said she’s watched some of the series but can’t confirm that she’s a “rabid fan” who knows everything about the series. What struck Mirren was how the various shows viewed the West, a time period both actors were interested in. “I’ve always been fascinated by the West and how the West was created, which in a way was the creation of America’s mythology,” Mirren said.

And there’s no denying that 1923 hopes to keep the same operatic elements of great storytelling. “That’s how I see it too [Tolstoy’s] ‘War and Peace,'” Mirren said. “It’s unavoidable in this landscape. Landscape creates the operatic element of it.”

There’s also an intriguing culture clash that doesn’t necessarily happen in Yellowstone. “1923” doesn’t just focus on the Duttons and the Indigenous characters who spend this season being forcibly Anglicized. There are also tensions with Irish immigration. That’s one of the main reasons Mirren chose an Irish accent for her character.

“We’re shooting in a town called Butte, Montana. Butte was an old mining town and the miners came from Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Moldova and Serbia,” Mirren said. Mirren points out that in old-school Westerns, everyone has an American accent, so she gave her character an extended backstory that would require an accent. “She probably came to America during that early migration of Irish people coming from the famine in Ireland in the late 1800s, met the character of Harrison Ford in her youth, and then created that life together.”

“1923” premieres Sunday on Paramount+.

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