Warning: spoilers forward for the “1923” Season 2 finale, now streaming on Paramount+.
It ended with a tragedy.
In the course of the Season 2 finale of the “Yellowstone” prequel sequence “1923,” (out Sunday, April 6), Spencer Dutton’s (Brandon Sklenar) spouse, Alexandra “Alex” Dutton, (Julia Schlaepfer), shockingly died.
“It’s horrible, it’s heartbreaking. It’s really tragic,” Schlaepfer, 30, completely advised The Publish.
“I know some people might be upset with that ending, I completely understand it,” she went on. “It’s such a bittersweet thing, because I love her so much, and I understand why it happened the way it happened. But I’m still grieving her … I’m big-time still grieving Alex.”
On “1923,” Alex had simply reunited with Spencer after spending a lot of the season aside. She had additionally given beginning to their son, however she refused to get her frost-bitten limbs amputated – knowingly setting herself up for loss of life, as she prioritized her son over herself. Spencer held her by way of her remaining moments as Jacob (Harrison Ford) and Cara (Helen Mirren) helplessly watched from the hospital hallway.
Schlaepfer mentioned that she came upon Alex would die just a few months earlier than filming started on Season 2.
“I was told by [creator Taylor Sheridan] sending me the scripts and being like, ‘call me when you’re done.’ I had no idea what was coming.”
However, the actress mentioned that she “had a feeling.”
She recalled, “I would say to Taylor all the time, ‘Alex is gonna die, isn’t she?’ And he’d be like, ‘I don’t know yet, I haven’t decided.’ I just had this sixth sense. Not that I wanted it, but I just think … you watch enough Taylor Sheridan, and you know something’s coming.”
After studying Alex’s loss of life scene within the script, Schlaepfer mentioned, “I wept. And, I just got ready to take on her battle … It was such an honor, and it was the greatest gift of my life truly as an actor and as a person. I loved playing her, and telling that story.”
Alex went by way of a harrowing journey all season lengthy. She handled starvation, assault and frigid temperatures because the pregnant English lady traveled alone from New York to Montana, to reunite with Spencer at his household ranch.
In the course of the beginning scene, Spencer was off preventing for the way forward for their dwelling, so Alex’s pseudo father-in-law, Jacob, was there to assist her.
“That was definitely the most special day of my life as an actor … It was my first day working with [Harrison Ford],” Schlaepfer recalled to the Publish. “It had been months. I was near the end of my chunk of filming, and I was just worn out and exhausted – both me and Alexandra. I was so excited to see how Harrison Ford worked; I idolize this man.”
Ford was “such a leader,” she gushed.
“He’s so kind and so funny. He knew exactly when to throw in a little joke to lighten the mood. And, he just gave me the floor. He took such good care of me that day. I don’t even know if he’ll fully ever understand the depth of what he did for me — but I didn’t even realize Alex needed someone to just give her a hug. And, he comes in as this fatherly figure. He was so generous with me.”
Schlaepfer mentioned that on the finish of the emotional beginning scene – since Alex is aware of that she gained’t reside to lift her son – “we just looked at each other and we were crying. He gave me a big hug, and just kind of held me for a second.”
Ford gave her a “paternal” vitality on set. “I didn’t know I was in need of [that],” she mentioned. “He’s just the best. He’s so cool and so funny. It’s something that I will never forget, as long as I live.”
The finale ended with Alex and Spencer getting a “Titanic”-style reunion within the afterlife, at a Nineteen Twenties dance. Voice-over narration informs the viewers that Spencer died 45 years after Alex, and the characters are seen discovering one another once more.
“When she does die, there’s quite a bit left to the script,” she defined. “I was continuing to read the script, I was so excited to see what else happened. And then it cuts to that scene of them. And another wave of tears washed over me.”
She added that filming that remaining second, “was so beautiful for Brandon [Sklenar] and I. We’ve been through a lot together, and a lot with these characters. For them to be all dressed up again and find each other – I think it also is just a testament to how strong their love is for each other.”
“They will find each other in every lifetime after this one, even if their time in ‘1923’ was cut short.”
