Helen Mirren, Harrison Ford Break Down ‘1923’ Season 2 Premiere: ‘Absolutely Lethal’ Threats Facing the Duttons from All Sides
Helen Mirren, Harrison Ford explain the ‘1923’ Season 2 premiere: The Duttons are facing ‘absolutely lethal’ threats from all sides.
SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from “The Killing Season,” the Season 2 premiere of “1923,” now streaming on Paramount+.
Anyone who steps foot on the Dutton clan’s front porch better have a good reason for being there. If they don’t, they are bound to be greeted by the barrel of a shotgun.
That’s how things played out at the end of Season 1 of Paramount+’s “1923,” when Cara (Helen Mirren) and Jacob Dutton (Harrison Ford) finally came face to face with Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton), the merciless businessman trying to steal the Yellowstone ranch away from them. Back then, Cara managed to calm the locked-and-loaded standoff between the men — but at the end of this week’s Season 2 premiere, it’s she who is pulling the trigger on another unexpected guest. Her target: a hungry mountain lion preying on her quasi-daughter-in-law, Liz (Michelle Randolph).
While the intruder wasn’t a former James Bond this time, the predator at her door is a sign of what’s to come in Season 2 of the “Yellowstone” prequel. The Duttons are facing their harshest winter ever: Not only are they being drained of money and resources as they try to stave off Whitfield’s hostile takeover, but they have been forced to sell most of their herd and are living off what they can hunt themselves.
Popular on Variety“Wielding a gun in that environment was an absolute necessity for survival,” Mirren tells Variety. “And we have a situation in this season where the Duttons are basically dying of starvation and everyone around them, humans and wild animals, are all after the same resources. They are fighting nature, as well as mankind. It is just a question of survival.”
The faceoff between Cara and the lion is an unmistakable callback to the series premiere, which opened with Cara gunning down a man in what initially appeared to be a callous act of violence (but is later revealed to be retribution for an assassination attempt on her family). Then, Cara’s killshot was followed by her screams of agony at her dire circumstances. But that strife has hardened her, and the woman holding the gun this time is more stoic about her kill.
“It is something she has just had to get used to (by Season 2),” Mirren says.
Helen Mirren as Cara and Harrison Ford as Jacob, “1923” (Trae Patton/Paramount+) Trae Patton/Paramount+Another bit of irony underscoring the moment is the fact that Cara’s and Jacob’s nephew Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) — whom they are counting on to come and save the Yellowstone — has spent years in Africa as a big game hunter. It’s a talent that clearly runs in the family. But subduing the mountain lion on her stoop is only the beginning of what Cara and the Duttons face on the homefront this season, as the premiere closes with a chorus of wolves howling at an uncomfortably close distance. Whitfield isn’t the only one who recognizes the family’s weaknesses. The wilderness is also stalking the beleaguered Duttons like a limpy gazelle ripe for the picking.
“The challenges of nature are matched by the challenges coming from mankind,” Ford adds. “Those pressures are intense and intensifying on the Duttons this season. The lives that these people are living are tenuous. It is something we don’t grasp in our contemporary lives. The details of how much rougher and more difficult these lives were only a hundred years ago.”
Jacob isn’t home when Cara squares off with the big cat on the front porch. He’s in Bozeman to support his loyal ranch foreman Zane (Brian Geraghty), who was brutally beaten by police last season as his Asian American wife Alice (Joy Osmanski) was arrested for violating Montana’s anti-miscegenation law — one of the many cruel tactics Whitfield deployed to weaken the Duttons. Between the hard winter, the grim reality facing his allies and the pressures of the bank threatening to hand his land to his enemies, Jacob has the world bearing down on him in Season 2. There’s a fight ahead, and Jacob’s hesitancy to accept the changing times likely won’t be his ally in it.
“Jacob is still on a horse,” Ford says. “He is still living that life, he’s protecting that life. He does not know the life that comes from electricity and from telephones in your house and all these conveniences that look like conveniences at first. Then, as we discover, when technology comes into our lives, it changes our lives. But not always for the better.”
Nevertheless, there is a fleeting moment that suggests Jacob might be open to answering the call of one harbinger of the future — a landline phone. Before he leaves home in the premiere, Cara makes the case that she would have more peace of mind if he could call her when he makes it safely to town, rather than her worrying from the moment he leaves to the moment he returns. In Bozeman, he dismissively passes a new phone booth while also admitting there is someone he would like to call. Could audiences see Cara’s wish granted and the Yellowstone get its first telephone by season’s end?
Harrison Ford as Jacob and Darren Mann as Jack, “1923” (Trae Patton/Paramount+) Trae Patton/Paramount+Ford playfully dodges that question, noting that accepting such technology is a slippery slope. “He doesn’t realize that if does get a phone, he’ll eventually end up taking selfies with it,” Ford quips.
While the future is certainly a stressor on the old ways that the Duttons are holding onto for dear life, there’s no denying their biggest threat is Whitfield’s worsening attacks. Audiences know his moral well long ago ran dry, as evidenced by the two sex workers he has been holding captive. In the season premiere, it is revealed that one of them, Lindy (Madison Elise Rogers), has assumed the role of lover and trainee in the ways of his sadistic punishment fetish. The other woman, covered in lashes from a belt, is being held in the closet until the couple want to play out their twisted power dynamic.
Both Ford and Mirren warn that Whitfield’s endless means and lack of morality will continue to bring a different kind of beast to the Duttons’ doorstep.
“The scale of his influence, the bizarre construction of his mind, from what we have seen of his personality, makes him an exceptionally powerful villain,” Ford says. “A villain is one who has no moral compunction, whatsoever, and that is always the most dangerous animal.”
For Mirren, the cunning and cruelty of Whitfield is a timely example of power corrupting absolutely.
“Harrison is absolutely right,” she says. “It’s the lack of conscience or moral code, combined with energy and intelligence and ambition. It is absolutely lethal. It’s brutal, and there are people like that abroad right now in positions of power.”
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis remained in critical condition Sunday and blood tests showed early kidney failure but he remains alert, responsive and attended Mass,Read More
Read more >> : Cick here
 |
 |
 |
 |
 — Pope Francis remained in critical condition Sunday and blood tests showed early kidney failure but he remains alert, responsive and attended Mass,Read More %23popefrancis) |
 |
 |
Far-left activist journalist Joy Reid has finally been shown the door by MSNBC after appearing on the liberal network since 2011. In that time she amassed an impressive collection of cringe-inducin…
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
A rescue team warned beachgoers not to enter a "very deep hole" that has appeared on the coast.
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
ROME (AP) — Pope Francis remained in critical condition Sunday and blood tests showed early kidney failure but he remains alert, responsive and attended Mass,Read More
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 — Pope Francis remained in critical condition Sunday and blood tests showed early kidney failure but he remains alert, responsive and attended Mass,Read More %23popefrancis) |
|
|
Tottenham star James Maddison is back to full fitness and ready to make a fresh claim for England selection after speaking with new manager Thomas Tuchel
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
It came before Maddisonâ??s team Tottenham Hotspur beat Ipswich Town 4-1 in the Premier League.
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Pope Francis, 88, continues to battle pneumonia and a complex lung infection
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Pope Francis remained in critical condition Sunday and blood tests showed early kidney failure but he remains alert, responsive and attended Mass, the Vatican said, as the 88-year-old pontiff battles pneumonia and a complex lung infection.
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Reid’s 7 p.m. program will be replaced by a panel show co-hosted by Symone Sanders Townsend, Alicia Menendez and Michael Steele.
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
PHILIPPE CLEMENT has been SACKED as manager of Rangers. Ibrox chiefs have finally decided enough is enough with Clement dismissed just 16 months after taking charge. SunSport exclusively revealed l…
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Chicago-area Catholics gathered at Holy Name Cathedral on Sunday to pray for the health of Pope Francis, who remained in critical condition with double pneumonia.
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Hundreds gathered for Sunday mass at New York City’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral to pray for Pope Francis, who remains in critical condition after he was diagnosed with double pneumonia.
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Don Sweeney touched on several topics Sunday, including Brad Marchand's future with the Bruins, prospects, and more.
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
In Argentina, where Pope Francis once served as a bishop, concern is especially high, even though he hasn’t returned to his country since his ascent into the papacy in 2013.
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
The Vatican said in its latest health update that Pope Francis hadn't had any more respiratory crises since Saturday night but was still receiving high flows of supplemental oxygen
Read more >> : Cick here
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Twitter (X), Inc. was an American social media company based in San Francisco, California, which operated and was named for its flagship social media network prior to its rebrand as X. In addition to Twitter, the company previously operated the Vine short video app and Periscope livestreaming service
Twitter (X) is one of the most popular social media platforms, with over 619 million monthly active users worldwide. One of the most exciting features of Twitter (X) is the ability to see what topics are trending in real-time. Twitter trends are a fascinating way to stay up to date on what people are talking about on the platform, and they can also be a valuable tool for businesses and individuals to stay relevant and informed. In this article, we will discuss Twitter (X) trends, how they work, and how you can use them to your advantage.
What are Twitter (X) Worldwide Trends?
Twitter (X) Worldwide trends are a list of topics that are currently being talked about on the platform and also world. The topics on this list change in real-time and are based on the volume of tweets using a particular hashtag or keyword. Twitter (X) Worldwide trends can be localized to a Worldwide country or region or can be global, depending on the topic's popularity.
How Do Twitter (X) Worldwide Trends Work?
Twitter (X) Worldwide trends are generated by an algorithm that analyzes the volume of tweets using a particular hashtag or keyword. When the algorithm detects a sudden increase in tweets using a specific hashtag or keyword, it considers that topic to be trending.
Once a topic is identified as trending, it is added to the list of Twitter (X) Worldwide trends. The topics on this list are ranked based on their popularity, with the most popular topics appearing at the top of the list.
Twitter (X) Worldwide trends can be filtered by location or category, allowing users to see what topics are trending in their area or in a particular industry. Additionally, users can click on a trending topic to see all of the tweets using that hashtag or keyword.