The women of 1923 faced down trials and tribulations in Season 1 and are locked and loaded to brave more adversity in Season 2.
The women of 1923 are a hardy breed, as resilient as the menfolk in their orbit and then some. Indeed, throughout Season 1, these four female characters repeatedly faced well-nigh-insurmountable challenges. But since this is, after all, a Taylor Sheridan-produced series, it’s safe to assume each of them will confront even more dangers and difficulties in the eagerly awaited Season 2.
Cora Dutton
Cora Dutton (Helen Mirren) established her badass bona fides during the opening minutes of the premiere episode, in a jolting flash-forward that showed her reloading her shotgun and blasting a cowering bad guy. We later learned that Cora fired in the aftermath of an assault on a group led by her husband, Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford), and demonstrated just as much steely resolve while verbally bitch-slapping a perverse land-grabber, an insolent would-be deputy, and anyone else she saw as a threat to the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. (No wonder Jacob referred to her early on as “the boss.”) But even she and Jacob couldn’t handle the increasingly fraught situation on their own— so Cora summoned their nephew Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) to return home from his travels and join the fight.
Alexandra Dutton
Alexandra “Alex” Dutton (Julia Schlaepfer), a freethinking beauty also known as The Countess of Sussex, met Spencer while he was hunting lions in Africa (and recovering from traumatic wartime experiences). She almost immediately ditched the snooty nobleman to whom she’d been engaged, ran off with Spencer, and shared exciting adventures with him — including a close encounter with an elephant — thereby earning his respect and love. Unfortunately, after an impromptu marriage while on their way to his Yellowstone home, they found themselves aboard an ocean liner with an inconvenient fellow passenger, her ex-fiancé. Even more unfortunately, Spencer inadvertently tossed the guy overboard during a struggle, leading to his being escorted off the ship at the nearest port. Alex had to remain on the ship, where she pledged to catch up with her husband in Montana — and exhibited signs that maybe, just maybe, she’s pregnant.
Elizabeth Strafford
Elizabeth “Liz” Strafford (Michelle Randolph) defied her class-conscious mom to become a mere “rancher’s wife” as the spouse of Jack Dutton (Darren Mann) — grandson of 1883’s James Dutton, grandnephew of Jacob. She was seriously wounded during the aforementioned attack on Jacob but managed to recover — only to suffer a miscarriage later in Season 1. And while her doctor didn’t specifically state that she and Jack couldn’t take another shot at parenthood, the couple sure did spend a lot of time talking about what a childless life might be for them. All of which raised the provocative question: Just who will be the one to carry on the Dutton bloodline? Alexandra? Elizabeth? Or maybe a character we won’t meet until Season 2?
Teonna Rainwater
Teonna Rainwater (Aminah Nieves) — evidently an ancestor of Yellowstone’s Chief Thomas Rainwater — arguably had the toughest time of it during the first season. A young Crow woman from the Broken Rock Reservation, she was brutally mistreated by abusive nuns and a singularly sadistic priest while forced to attend an Indian boarding school, where students were more or less beaten into assimilation. After murdering two of the most merciless sisters, she set out on a desperate journey home, all the while hunted by a posse of murderous lawmen and an unforgiving priests. Her pursuers killed any of her friends or relatives who got in their way; Teonna struck back by bashing one brute’s head in with a rock. At the end of Season 1, she was still at large — though just barely.
From our April 2025 issue (coming soon).
PHOTOGRAPHY: Courtesy of Paramount+
