'1923' Cast: Meet the Actors and Characters Behind the 'Yellowstone' Spinoff (2024)

Taylor Sheridan might not have made 1923 if it weren't for the cast he secured for the series.

The Yellowstone creator told Deadline that he wrote Jacob Dutton specifically for Harrison Ford — and that he didn’t begin writing until Ford committed to the role (which he did over some wine). After Helen Mirren signed on, Sheridan was ready to find the rest of his cast and write.

"When you can find anchors like Harrison and Helen, then it lets me go and discover the next generation of movie stars, which is my favorite thing to do," Sheridan said. "Go find somebody no one has ever heard of, because our business doesn’t make stars anymore."

The method worked well: The Paramount+ show had the highest ratings for any series premiere on the platform, per Variety, and is the first Yellowstone spinoff to get a second season.

From how they began their careers in Hollywood to interesting insight into their characters, here's everything to know about the cast of 1923.

Harrison Ford as Jacob Dutton

Chicago-born Harrison Ford was an early career actor who became a self-taught carpenter to make ends meet before crossing paths with George Lucas, who cast him in American Graffiti and as quick-draw pilot Han Solo in Star Wars.

Ford went on to star in more franchises, including playing the titular Indiana Jones and joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Thaddeus Ross.

An avid pilot, Ford said that he saw parallels between Jacob's experiences and his own, most notably when Ford crash-landed a vintage plane in 2015 after an engine failure. (Since the incident, his wife Calista Flockhart won't fly with him in older aircrafts.)

"When the scripts were coming, I was struck by how many major moments in my character's life had a substantial and not coincidental shadow of the same things in my life," he told Emmy Magazine.

Ford specifically cited a scene in which Jacob’s wife, Cara Dutton (Mirren), takes command of the situation after Jacob is injured, explaining, "Even when I talk about it now, it emotionally relates to the airplane crash I had and what my wife went through."

Helen Mirren as Cara Dutton

Helen Mirren stars as matriarch Cara Dutton, marking the second time the British actress has worked with Ford. She first played his love interest in the 1986 drama film The Mosquito Coast.

Mirren, who dated Liam Neeson in the early 1980s and married director Taylor Hackford in 1997, admitted that filming love scenes with Ford was a highlight of 1923.

"I'm lying there and I'm thinking, 'I'm in bed with Harrison Ford.' I was so excited, I can't tell you. I had to pretend to be cool," she joked in an April 2023 interview. "He's come to a place where he can be easy with other actors. It's immensely generous and incredibly professional. Not remotely spoiled movie star, at all. I genuinely love him."

The feeling was mutual: Ford told PEOPLE, "I admire her work and her person [now], and I have all the same degree of admiration for her as I did then."

Brandon Sklenar as Spencer Dutton

Brandon Sklenar stars as Spencer Dutton, Jacob and Cara's nephew whom they raised.

Born in Dover, New Jersey, Sklenar landed his breakout role in Vice in 2018 with Christian Bale and Amy Adams, followed by an appearance in the war drama Midway a year later.

Spencer is his first major TV role, and Sklenar told PEOPLE he couldn't be happier about starring in 1923.

"It's definitely the best character I've played and my favorite experience working thus far," he said. "It's kind of impossible to not have that experience when you're working with these people and with this material."

Sklenar will star in the upcoming film It Ends with Us opposite Blake Lively.

Julia Schlaepfer as Alexandra

Born in Bellevue, Washington, actress Julia Schlaepfer stars as Alexandra in 1923, her second major role after Netflix's The Politician.

"We are so dirty at the end of every filming day, but it is the greatest feeling in the world," she told PEOPLE of filming 1923 in Africa.

Schlaepfer added that playing Alexandra inspired her to love herself as she is.

"She wore her heart on her sleeve and she's so outgoing and vibrant and doesn't care what anybody thinks about her," she said. "It was really nice for me to have to embrace that side of myself."

Isabel May as Elsa Dutton

Prior to playing Elsa Dutton in 1923, Isabel May starred on Netflix's Alexa & Katie and CBS’ Young Sheldon. May is reprising her role from 1883 — and she's the only member of the "Sheridan-verse" to have a lead actor credit on more than one of his series.

Sheridan cast May as Elsa after she auditioned for a part in Mayor of Kingstown that didn't turn out to be the right fit.

"He called two weeks later and said, 'You're Elsa Dutton. I want you to be Elsa Dutton. Please be Elsa Dutton,' " May told The Hollywood Reporter. "And I said, 'Well, of course, I'll be Elsa Dutton because you're Taylor Sheridan and it's my dream to work with you.' "

Timothy Dalton as Donald Whitfield

Screen legend Timothy Dalton plays cunning businessman Donald Whitfield in 1923, but he's best known for starring as James Bond in The Living Daylights (1987) and Licence to Kill (1989).

Dalton saw massive success with The Living Daylights, but his subsequent Bond film, Licence to Kill, didn't perform as well in the U.S. He was contracted with MGM to do three Bond movies, but a lawsuit between MGM and Eon Productions lasted nearly five years and delayed the film that would become GoldenEye.

Dalton told The Week that he liked the GoldenEye script and story, but by the time the legal issues were settled, he didn't want to do another four movies, as the studio wanted.

"I thought, 'Oh, no, that would be the rest of my life. Too much. Too long,' " he recalled. “So I respectfully declined.” Dalton was replaced with Pierce Brosnan who starred in the four projects over seven years.

Following his final Bond outing, Dalton starred in The Rocketeer, Penny Dreadful and Doom Patrol and voiced hedgehog Mr. Pricklepants in the Toy Story franchise.

Dalton, who shares son Alexander with ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva, told The New York Times that 1923 wasn't an easy project to take on — their Montana set was plagued with blizzards and freezing temperatures.

"It was a nightmare," he recounted. "We are on top of a hill with a blasting wind coming at us. The cameras freeze up. Your toes freeze up."

Robert Patrick as Sheriff William McDowell

Robert Patrick plays Sheriff William McDowell, a friend and ally to the Dutton family — but Patrick is best known for playing villains.

Patrick was born in Marietta, Georgia, and didn't become an actor until his 20s. After small roles in Roger Corman's movies, he played antagonist O'Reilly in Die Hard 2 (1990). In November 1990, he married his wife Barbara Hooper, with whom he shares two children.

His breakout role came in 1991 as the android T-1000 in Terminator 2: Judgment Day. Patrick told Den of Geek that he owed his career to that gig, adding, "I can’t think of a cooler way to be introduced to the world than as the nemesis in Terminator 2."

Patrick's newfound fame affected his alcoholism, which he said led to him losing some career momentum.

"I wasn't mature enough to handle [fame] even though I was 30 years old, I was 31 when that came out. And I rewarded myself by partying for like two years," he said on the podcast Inside of You in 2022, revealing that he got sober at 42.

Since then, Patrick has had other memorable roles in The X-Files, The Sopranos, The Walking Dead, Walk the Line, Sons of Anarchy, Scorpion and Peacemaker.

Michael Greyeyes as Hank Plenty Clouds

Michael Greyeyes stars as Hank Plenty Clouds in 1923.

The Plains Cree actor is a trained dancer from Saskatchewan, Canada, and performed with The National Ballet of Canada’s Corps de Ballet from 1987 to 1990. His first acting role came in the TNT TV movie Geronimo, followed by roles in Law & Order: Criminal Intent; Walker, Texas Ranger; and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

In 2017, Greyeyes began appearing as Qaletaqa Walker in Fear the Walking Dead and starred as Sitting Bull in Woman Walks Ahead with Jessica Chastain. He told Entertainment Weekly that the film was a huge step forward for Indigenous representation in film.

"We’ve always been part of cinema, but the role of Native artists as participants has increased over the years," he said. "I find that it’s an old battle, for us. We struggle against stereotypes, against erasure."

Greyeyes later took on roles in True Detective, Star Trek: Discovery and American Gods before starring as Hank in 1923. In November 2022, he wrote on Instagram that his horse for the show, Ed, was an "excellent fellow."

Michelle Randolph as Elizabeth "Liz" Strafford

Michelle Randolph stars as Elizabeth "Liz" Strafford in 1923.

Randolph said her on-screen romance with Jack Dutton (Darren Mann) is akin to a fairy tale.

"Their relationship, I imagine, is like every Taylor Swift music video or cheesy love song," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "It's the perfect little love story, and it was fun being able to play into that because it's not something I've experienced in my real life."

1923 wasn't the first time Randolph and Mann played love interests: They previously starred as a couple in the 2017 horror film House of the Witch.

Another interesting connection Randolph has in Hollywood happens to be with her sister, Cassie Randolph, who won The Bachelor in 2019.

Darren Mann as Jack Dutton

Darren Mann was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, by his mother, actress and director Lenore Mann.

While he initially pursued professional hockey, Mann began studying acting when he was 19, and his athleticism landed him the starring role in the MMA indie film Embattled (2020).

He shared the screen with Yellowstone star Cole Hauser in The Minute You Wake Up Dead (2022) and had a recurring role in Animal Kingdom (2022) before starring in 1923 as Jack Dutton.

Mann takes his role in the TV family dynasty seriously — in part because it's his dream job.

"I was a massive Taylor Sheridan fan. I've been itching to work with Taylor for years," Mann told Screen Rant. "I can remember at TIFF 2018, they asked me, 'Who do you want to work with?' And I was like, 'Taylor Sheridan. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna find him. I have to.' "

James Badge Dale as John Dutton Sr.

James Badge Dale plays rugged cowboy John Dutton Sr., but in real life, he has a Hollywood pedigree.

The son of director and choreographer Grover Dale and late actress and singer Anita Morris, Dale was born in New York City and raised in Los Angeles. When he was 10 years old, he was cast in the film adaptation of Lord of the Flies (1990).

"For four months, we were just running around the jungle causing trouble," he told Vanity Fair. "And then I came back to the United States and I quickly realized that this is work. This is a job, this is business. And I’m 10, 11 years old and I don’t want to have a job."

Dale returned to acting in 2003 in Nola, opposite Emmy Rossum.

As an adult, Dale has had notable roles in projects like 24, The Walk, Iron Man 3, Only the Brave and World War Z. He shares a son, Cassius, with his longtime partner, former NCIS star Emily Wickersham.

Marley Shelton as Emma Dutton

Marley Shelton hit it big thanks to a brief but memorable turn in the 1993 cult classic The Sandlot as lifeguard Wendy Peffercorn.

She followed The Sandlot with TV work before playing Margaret in Pleasantville (1998) and appearing in Never Been Kissed (1999). Shelton also starred in several teen movies and indies in the early 2000s before appearing in Sin City (2005), Grindhouse (2007) and as Judy Hicks in Scream 4 (2011) and Scream (2022).

Shelton married producer Beau Flynn in 2001, and they welcomed their first child, a daughter named West, in 2009. Their second daughter, Ruby, was born in 2012.

Shelton, who stars as Emma Dutton in 1923, told Decider that one of her favorite on-set memories was meeting Mirren for the first time.

"She came floating in during breakfast and came up to our table before our morning ride. She said, 'You must be the actors' and asked if she could sit down," Shelton recalled. "We were all pretty star-struck, and she just immediately put everybody at ease as she does."

Jerome Flynn as Banner Creighton

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw aren't the only chart-topping stars in the Sheridan-verse.

Born in Kent, England, to an acting family, Jerome Flynn broke out in the U.K. in 1991 on the ITV series Soldier Soldier.

Flynn and his Soldier Soldier costar Robson Green performed a rendition of the Righteous Brothers' classic "Unchained Melody" on the show and Simon Cowell convinced them to record it as a single. It became the highest-selling song in the U.K. in 1995, per BBC News, leading the duo to release more music as Robson & Jerome.

Flynn told The Independent that Cowell's genius led him to leave the business in 2000. "Simon put us together and made a product — a very successful one, but it was like being on a Disney ride," he said. "It got very overwhelming and just kind of unreal."

In 2010, after nearly a decade away from the spotlight, Flynn returned to the mainstream when he was cast as Bronn in HBO's Game of Thrones. He followed with Ripper Street alongside Succession's Matthew MacFadyen and the Black Mirror episode "Shut Up and Dance."

Aminah Nieves as Teonna Rainwater

Aminah Nieves stars as Teonna Rainwater, who faces brutal abuse at an American Indian residential school run by the Catholic Church.

Nieves told Deadline that, in real life, Jennifer Ehle (who plays Sister Mary, an abusive nun at the school) is "tender and kind." Nieves is also close with her on-screen cousin — especially after shooting a scene where nuns attacked Teonna.

"They yell 'cut,' and I hear Leenah Robinson, who plays my cousin Baapuxti, scream, ‘Get off of her!’ They were already off me," Nieves recalled. "But when you are put in these situations, she was just scared. You’re witnessing all the traumas at once. I think that was a life-changing moment for me because I knew she was my sister for life."

Jennifer Ehle as Sister Mary

Jennifer Ehle, daughter of author John Ehle and actress Rosemary Harris, began acting in the U.K. in the early 1990s, earning a BAFTA for best actress for starring as Elizabeth Bennet in the BBC Pride and Prejudice miniseries opposite Colin Firth.

In 2000, Ehle and her mother were both nominated for best actress in a play at theTony Awards — and Ehle won for her role as Annie in The Real Thing. Ehle earned another Tony in 2007 and was nominated for a third in 2017. She has also starred in movies like Zero Dark Thirty and The King's Speech.

Ehle began doing more screen work in 2020; she told The Guardian she made this shift because raising her two children, whom she shares with her husband, Michael Ryan, was challenging with a theater schedule.

She appeared in Saint Maud, The Good Fight, Suspicion and The Comey Rule before starring as Sister Mary in 1923.

Sebastian Roché as Father Renaud

Sebastian Roché stars as Father Renaud, a Catholic priest who heads the residential school.

Before filming a particularly brutal scene in 1923, Roché apologized to his Indigenous castmates.

"I wanted to apologize for what we're about to do, just to clear the air a bit and relieve the tension," he told Insider. "Because in that moment, I'm the perpetrator, I am the antagonist."

Roché was born in Paris and spent much of his childhood sailing around the world with his family, he told Soap Opera Digest. He later studied at France's prestigious acting schools.

In addition to movies like The Last of the Mohicans (1992), he appeared in over 300 episodes of General Hospital and had recurring roles on Supernatural, Fringe, 24, Criminal Minds, The Vampire Diaries, Scandal and Big Sky.

Roché was married to Vera Farmiga from 1997 to 2004. He wed Korean-Australian actress Alicia Hannah-Kim in 2014.

Brian Geraghty as Zane Davis

Brian Geraghty stars as Dutton Ranch’s foreman, Zane Davis. To prepare for the role, Geraghty and the cast went through "cowboy boot camp," where they learned to lasso, walk in spurs and use firearms.

"We got to have highs and lows together before we started, which actually was really good for bonding," he told E! News in 2023.

The New Jersey-born actor previously appeared in Boardwalk Empire, The Hurt Locker, Flight, Big Sky, Gaslit and Chicago P.D. He's in a relationship with Umbrella Academy star Génesis Rodríguez and previously dated Krysten Ritter.

Jennifer Carpenter as Mamie Fossett

Jennifer Carpenter is set to play Mamie Fossett in season 2 of 1923.

According to Deadline, the actress will portray the U.S. Deputy Marshall, who is described as being confident while serving warrants and making arrests. Viewers will see Mamie throughout the second installment as a recurring character with a mindset “ahead of her time.”

During her more than two-decade-long career, Carpenter has appeared in several movies, like White Chicks and The Exorcism of Emily Rose and numerous shows, including Dexter and The Enemy Within.

The actress is married to singer and musician Seth Avett of the rock band The Avett Brothers. The two went public with their romance in 2013 before welcoming their son Isaac in 2015. Carpenter and Avett wed in an intimate ceremony the following year.