Anyone who has watched and finished 1883 knows well enough the heartbreaking ending to the Yellowstone prequel. And Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, who plays James and Margaret Dutton, were not exempt from the emotional impact of the last episodes.
1883 marked the beginning of the Dutton family's settlement of the Montana land that would become the Yellowstone Ranch. James and Margaret had planned to settle in Oregon when they reached the end of the path for most of the series. However, after their teenage daughter Elsa (Isabel May) was killed by an arrow, they decided to start over on the land where she died.
ALSO READ: 1883 Season 1 Episode 10 (Finale): Are You Prepared for Elsa Dutton's Death?
Reading the 1883 Script Left Tim McGraw and Faith Hill ‘Ugly, Boohoo Crying’
McGraw and Hill took turns reading scripts aloud to each other throughout the season. When the scripts for Episodes 9 and 10 arrived, however, and Elsa's fate was revealed, McGraw claims they "literally couldn't read them" due to the emotion. Hill said she couldn't catch her breath because she was "crying so hard."
“When we got the final two, we literally couldn’t read them to each other because we were crying so much — I mean, ugly, boohoo crying,” McGraw told Variety. “I was a blubbering idiot. It was just so well-written, so devastating and heartbreaking, but at the same time, so on point and poignant for what Yellowstone turned out to be.”
McGraw also remarked that the 1883 story gave Yellowstone fans "all the reasons in the world" why John Dutton (Kevin Costner) and his family fight so hard for their Yellowstone land.
ALSO READ: 1883 Finale: Tim McGraw, Faith Hill Talk [SPOILER]'s Devastating Death
“It just made perfect sense,” McGraw said
1883 Will Have ‘Additional Episodes’
Taylor Sheridan's original goal was for the story of James and Margaret to end after 1883 Season 1 and for Season 2 to focus on another Dutton generation during Prohibition and the Great Depression.
However, owing to the success of 1883, Paramount+ has announced that another Yellowstone prequel, dubbed 1932, will be released later this year. At the same time, during the Yellowstone Season 5 break, Paramount has ordered "additional episodes" of 1883. The premiere for 1932 will take place in the second half of the upcoming Yellowstone season.
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It's unclear how many more episodes of 1883 will be released or what stories they will tell. Even McGraw and Hill have stated that they have no idea what their characters would do next.
“We just don’t know. We’re sort of in limbo like everyone else,” McGraw said. “We’re excited about what’s to come and excited about what he writes and can’t wait to see however it develops.”
1883 is now playing on Paramount+.
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