1883 Season 1’s Ending Already Sets Up Yellowstone’s New Spinoff

1883 culminates in the Duttons and the other survivors from the caravan finding land that’s suitable for settling – laying the groundwork not just for the story of 1883 season 2, but also for the upcoming Yellowstone spinoff 1932. Paramount has revealed that 1932 will “follow a new generation of Duttons during the time of western expansion, Prohibition, and the Great Depression.” Indeed, it would seem that the 1883 season 1 finale perfectly sets up the new addition to Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan’s Neo-Western universe.

1883 ends with Elsa Dutton not only dying, but also picking the spot in Paradise Valley, Montana where the Duttons decide to settle – the very roots of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch. Meanwhile, Pinkerton agent Thomas and Romani settler Noemi and their kids have began building their homestead in Oregon, and so has the German migrant Josef. 1932 is bound to reveal what will happen in and around these three homesteads as they each approach their 50th year.

1883’s survivors are all likely to appear in 1932 to continue expanding Yellowstone’s prequel stories. This includes John Dutton Sr., James and Margaret’s little boy, who will be the middle-aged patriarch of the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch in 1932. It’s unclear whether or not James and Margaret themselves will be reprising their roles as much older versions of themselves, and if not, they could appear in flashbacks. Spenser Dutton, who first appeared as a little boy in Yellowstone season 4’s 1883 backdoor pilot, is also bound to join the cast as a teen or young adult. Meanwhile, Thomas, Noemi, and Josef could still be alive and well in Oregon during 1932, and Thomas and Noemi’s kids would be all grown up and pursuing their own paths. Because of how Josef boasted about German drinking culture in 1883, just before his leg had to be surgically removed to save his life, Josef could even end up being a beer brewer or bootlegger during the Prohibition era. Yellowstone’s new spinoff prequel, which will be set during the Great Depression, will be pitting 1883’s survivors against new challenges that even veteran pioneers might not be ready to face.

Apart from financial hardships, these challenges will no doubt include conflicts with the law – something that the Duttons have some experience with. 1932 will also continue to unravel the clash between the white settlers of the Westward Expansion of America and the Indigenous Americans whom these settlers have systematically murdered and displaced. At the turn of the 19th century, during the industrialization of America, entire Indigenous cultures were also erased, as new technologies enabled settlers and ranchers to streamline their acquisition of land and resources. In 1932, more than a century since the Louisiana Purchase, America’s vast frontier is getting smaller and smaller, partitioned between clans of white settlers enabled by the advent of barbed wire. This means that the nations of the Lakota, Comanche, Crow, and other Indigenous Americans will have even more reasons to fight – not just the Duttons, but every other white homesteader on Indigenous land.

1883‘s season 1 ending was bittersweet, particularly because of the respective deaths of both Elsa and Shea, two warriors who have finally found their peace in the frontier. In 1932, Shea and Elsa’s beautiful world will be a distant memory, a version of the past romanticized by cowboys and displaced Indigenous Americans coming face to face with the mass industrialization of the country. Given these narrative possibilities, 1932 will undoubtedly be a stunning follow-up to 1883.