“Examination Of The History Of America”: 1923 Star Doesn’t See Yellowstone As Franchise

1923 star Helen Mirren explains why she does not think of Yellowstone as a franchise. Taylor Sheridan’s universe continues to grow, tracking various generations of the Dutton family through each installment and revealing more about their land. In 1923, the second Yellowstone prequel to be released, Mirren stars as Cara Dutton and is joined by a cast that includes Harrison Ford, Brandon Sklenar, Julia Schlaepfer, Darren Mann, Jerome Flynn, and Timothy Dalton.

Speaking at TheWrap‘s 2023 Awards Season Screening Series, Mirren said that she does not see Yellowstone as a franchise, but “more as an examination of the history of America.” The actress also shared that she was not overly familiar with the original show but decided to get involved with 1923 because of Sheridan’s writing. Read Mirren’s comments regarding the Yellowstone franchise below:

I don’t see it as a franchise. I don’t see it like that. I know this is going to sound super pretentious, but I see it more as an examination of the history of America, in the way that ‘War & Peace’ was an examination of part of the history of Russia, seen through the eyes of families, family members. I see it much more like that. I personally hadn’t seen a lot of ‘Yellowstone,’ but mostly I jumped on board because of Taylor’s writing in his films that is so very, very good and it transpired that he is a brilliant writer. He really is. The scripts arrived as complete things that you didn’t want to change a word, you didn’t want to add anything, you didn’t want to take anything away. They were psychologically interesting to play, as an actor.

How 1923 Adds To The Yellowstone Franchise