INSP will rerun all Season 1 episodes of the drama about Teddy Roosevelt’s cowboy days starting July 24.
With the return of Elkhorn on the horizon — the Season 2 premiere is set to air Oct. 2 — INSP is giving viewers the opportunity to take a second glance (or a first look) at the drama about future U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt’s early days as a cattle rancher in the Badlands of the Dakota Territory.
Each of the ten Season 1 episodes will have an encore presentation starting July 24, and continuing on subsequent Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET.
For the benefit of those who tuned in late: Elkhorn — which was voted Best Series and Best Actor (Mason Beals) by readers for the 2025 C&I Movie & TV Awards — focuses on the years after young Teddy abandoned his comfortable life among the social elite class and his rising career as a crusading New York State assemblyman in the wake of devastating tragedies: His wife and mother within hours of each other on Feb. 14, 1884. He moved to the Dakota Territory, to more or less reinvent himself as a cowboy on his Elkhorn ranch. The transformation, as you might expect, isn’t always an easy one.
“What I love about TR in this era — and about him in general — is that he was genetically programmed to be a big nerd,” Beals told C&I while in production for Season 1 of Elkhorn. “Think about it. He’s got asthma, he’s got terrible problems with his gut. He has horrible eyesight. But he’s incredibly intelligent, and he won’t let any of that stop him. He’s like, ‘Oh, absolutely not. I am no nerd.’ He thinks, ‘OK, you are not like the gruff cowboys that live out here, but you’re also not a pipsqueak.’
“But he is a pipsqueak in comparison to them, you know what I mean? He’s riding up on horses with this level of confidence that is almost not justified yet. Because he’s got this image of the heroes that he loves so much, he is playing pretend — but feeling it on the inside. So, it’s a really fun balance to figure out the parts where he is being a tough, cool, cowboy-type person, and where the city-slicker rich kid kind of comes in. It’s definitely a battle of those two mindsets for him, which is fun. As far as battles go, it’s a good battle.”
In addition to Beals, other original cast members returning for Season 2 include Jeff DuJardin as Marquis de Morès, a powerful and duplicitous French-born landowner; Sam Schweikert as Arthur Packard, a young local journalist who’s immediately fascinated by the adventures of TR; Elijah Mahar as Bill Sewall, Teddy’s rugged longtime friend and mentor; and Garrett Schulte as Wilmot Dowell, Sewall’s nephew, who journeys from New England to the Dakota Territory with his uncle to help the newbie rancher cowboy up.
According to the official INSP plot synopsis: “In Elkhorn Season 2, Roosevelt and his fellow ranchers must defend themselves against the men of the Chicago Beef Trust, who embark on a campaign of sabotage and violence to protect their stronghold on the local cattle market.
“Roosevelt continues his power struggle with the enigmatic town founders, the Marquis de Morés and his wife, Medora, who reign over the townsfolk with threats, intimidation, and hired guns.
“Amid this turmoil, Roosevelt also learns to navigate the cramped quarters of the Elkhorn cabin with the wives of his partners, Bill Sewall and Wilmot Dow. Though Roosevelt agreed to let the men bring their wives when they returned from Maine, the women’s presence is clearly unnerving for the recently widowed Roosevelt, who moved to the Badlands to escape the painful memory of his own wife's death.”
Writer Jordan Rane recently visited the set of Elkhorn to interview Beals and other folks involved with the series. His in-depth location story will appear in our October 2025 issue.
