We’ve finally made it to the Season 2 finale of Paramount+’s Yellowstone prequel series/spinoff, 1923, from Taylor Sheridan.

After a “red wedding” episode of sorts that saw Jack Dutton (Darren Mann) die, what happened in the 1923 Season 2 finale? We dive into a lot of questions and break down the finale episode, including how Alex (Julia Schlaepfer) and Spencer Dutton’s (Brandon Sklenar) continent-spanning romance ends, what happens to the other Duttons—including Jacob (Harrison Ford), Cara (Helen Mirren) and Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph)—and what happens to Teonna Rainwater (Aminah Nieves).

Also, is this the last season of 1923, and will these 1923 characters appear in the upcoming spinoff 1944? Let’s dive in as the cast goes over the finale, “A Dream and a Memory,” with Blavity’s Shadow and Act.

What happens to Alex and Spencer at the end of ‘1923’?

Ultimately, Spencer makes it home, Alex makes it with him out west, but she does not survive. But let’s rewind a little bit. Alex starts a fire to flag down a train, and that train just so happens to be Spencer’s train headed to Montana. He sees her and jumps off the train. They eventually make their way back onto the train, where Alex is treated by a doctor. Alex has extensive frostbite, and it is impacting her limbs. Then, the Livingston shootout happens (more on that later).

Julia Schlaepfer as Alexandra in season 1 , Episode 7 of 1923 streaming on Paramount+ — Photo: Lauren Smith/ Paramount+

Jacob (who had been wounded) and Alex eventually arrive at the hospital in Bozeman, with Spencer and Cara joining later. When they get to the hospital, it is clear that the baby needs to be delivered ASAP. Alex is faced with a decision: Does she amputate her limbs? She chooses, after birth, to not have surgery and to be held by Spencer and to hold their baby—even if it means risking what life she may have, and even though the baby may also not survive. After they sleep in the bed as a family, Alex dies the next day in Spencer’s arms, and the baby, who Alex wanted to name John after Spencer’s late brother, survives.

When it is all said and done, it is revealed via voiceover that Spencer lives 45 more years and raises their son, and also has another son with a widow he had a relationship with. Despite this, he never remarries. We see a flash-forward of him where he lies on Alex’s grave before dying, and they greet each other in the afterlife in a party sequence similar to the boat event they were on at the end of Season 1.

Julia Schlaepfer and Brandon Sklenar on how Alex and Spencer’s story ends

On the devastating, tragic and bittersweet ending to Alex and Spencer’s love, Schlaepfer told Blavity’s Shadow and Act, “It’s such a grand, epic love story. I think Taylor writes love stories so beautifully, and this literally is a love story that spans continents. I think seeing them together and seeing the challenges they go through together is so beautiful in its own right, and watching how they work together and bring out the best in each other, but then separating them and watch them have to fight for one another on their own is a totally different beast. And it is a tragic ending, but the payoff is they found each other again. They created a family together, and ultimately when Spencer’s old and gray and dying, he finds her and he’s been waiting for her and she’s been waiting for him. It just is a type of love that can endure anything, and I think that’s something that everybody wants that kind of love, and everybody wishes for that, even though it was cut short for them, but they never lost each other.”

Sklenar told us, “It resonates with so well because it is that same type of love that you see in old films in the fifties and the forties and the thirties, and it’s the type of love that poetry is about, and the best songs…it’s that permeating, inspiring love that is so rare and you don’t really see it too much anymore in mainstream media. There’s certain callousness to a lot of the love you see these days and stuff. Someone’s really f****d up and they do something s****y…there’s a lot of darkness to a lot of the love stories you see now, and it’s more like shadowy. To have a story that is just driven by a profound, deep love for somebody and what you’re willing to put yourself through to find them and to see them and to be there for them, that’s something that everybody wants and everybody wants to share in, and everyone wants to experience and witness. And it was such a beautiful thing to be able to do it.”

What happens to Jacob, Cara and Elizabeth Dutton?

Back to the Livingston shootout—once Spencer arrives at the train station, the opps are definitely waiting. A shootout ensues between Whitfield’s (Timothy Dalton) men and Jacob’s crew/Sheriff McDowell. Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) is also there, but he has a change of heart and wants Jacob to just not hurt his family.

He also wants to escape, but Jacob tells him there is no way that is happening. Whitfield’s men are all taken down, including Banner, and Jacob keeps his word as his family heads out to Portland. Spencer manages to get off the train to head to the ranch as war has exploded there. Jacob takes his place on the train and goes with Alex to the Bozeman hospital.

At Yellowstone, Cara, Liz, Zane (Brian Geraghty) and more hold down the fort as chaos ensues. Spencer then arrives and is able to take the Whitfield goons out with ease. Spencer reunites with Cara, as Liz realizes something must have happened to Jack if Spencer hasn’t seen him.

The next morning, Jacob and Spencer get revenge and take Whitfield himself out. After asking him a few questions and telling him he is responsible for his wife’s death, Spencer shoots Whitfield point blank in the face. He also shoots Lindy (Madison Elise Rogers), who tries to bum rush him, but lets Mabel (Virginia Gardner) go free. Meanwhile, Cara is taking care of Spencer and Alex’s son, as Liz, who is also pregnant, leaves the ranch now that Jack is dead.

What happens to Teonna Rainwater?

Though she is taken into custody by Marshal Mamie Fossett (Jennifer Carpenter) and Two Spears (Dougie Hall), there are no witnesses for the prosecution, and they are both on her side. Though she is confused and doesn’t know where to start over, Two Spears tells her to head further west—maybe even to California.

Aminah Nieves as Teonna in season 1 , Episode 7 of 1923 streaming on Paramount+. — Photo: Lauren Smith/ Paramount+

On Teonna’s fate and how she never backed down or strayed away from her values, Nieves said, “I think that directly shows the power as BIPOC communities have. So many look at us and think that we’re less than, or have to prove ourselves 10 times more, or that we’re just lower—and that’s not true. If there’s any teenagers or the youth watching this, I want them to know their strength is their superpower. Our strength is our f***ing superpower. We don’t have a choice. That lives and ripples throughout us. We’ve been through so much, a look at us—we’re still laughing and creating so much love through all our communities 24/7, even though we’ve been through what we’ve been through. It was paramount for Teonna to stay headstrong and confident in what she was trying to achieve and what she wanted for her people.”

Is this the last season of ‘1923’?

Paramount+ has not officially confirmed the end of 1923, but we do have official word that “the Yellowstone origin story will continue with the next chapter of the saga, 1944.” This means that 1923 will likely only consist of these two seasons, and the Season 2 finale doubles as the series finale.

Will Spencer Dutton, Teonna Rainwater or Elizabeth Dutton return in ‘1944’m?

A lot of characters survive 1923, and it would make sense for Spencer, Teonna or Liz to appear in 1944. First off for Spencer or Liz, we still don’t know how the Dutton lineage is carried on and what the full family tree looks like (more on that here).

Sklenar said that he’d love to appear, telling us, “He’s got more story in him. I don’t think that it’ll be nearly as exciting as what he’s experienced [in 1923]. I think as the character, he’s likely just trying to be at home and raise his child and root himself. He’s never the same again after losing her. It also kind of says that in the voiceover. I think it changes him and he spends the rest of his life missing her and longing for her and just sort of doing his job and trying to be the best dad can be. But yeah, there’s definitely more to see and hope. Maybe we see him in 1944.”

Meanwhile for Teonna, people have already speculated that she is an older relative of Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) in the original Yellowstone series. This could be part of 1944’s story.

“I want to see her have a full-bodied life,” Nieves told us. “I want to see her live till she’s like 80 and have many babies. Well, just at least one from Pete. I think that what she’s went through is just only going to inform so much more as she ages and build such an incredible matriarchal woman. She already is one and I want to see more. I think she has so much more life to give, and I think she’s a powerful voice of her generation and it obviously transcends to the Rainwater from Yellowstone that we’re speculating about.”

As for Liz, Randolph said, “I want to see more of her. I want to see her live till 80. Unfortunately, I feel like in a Yellowstone/Taylor [Sheridan]-written script, the happiness and the living till 80 might not be possible [laughs]. I would love to adventure to 1944 if that ever was a possibility.”

1923 is streaming in its entirety on Paramount+.

1944

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