Will There Be A ‘1923' Season 3? What The Shocking Ending Means For Spencer And The Show's Future

Forbes

06-04-2025

L to R Harrison Ford as Jacob Dutton and Helen Mirren as Cara in season 2 , Episode 4 of 1923 ... More streaming on Paramount+.
The 1923 Season 2 finale is now streaming, and the cinematic two-hour episode delivered a heartbreaking and bittersweet ending to the Yellowstone prequel. Will there be a Season 3, or is this the end of the road for the series led by Helen Mirren and Harrison Ford?
Paramount+ announced in March that 1923 Season 2 would be shorter than Season 1, consisting of just seven episodes. The two-hour finale—nearly double the usual run-time—gave the show extra time to wrap up its story. It picks up after last week's gut-wrenching episode, 'The Mountain Teeth of Monsters,' which included seven deaths, including a Dutton, two villains, and four other devastating losses.
Heading into the finale, Spencer Dutton is close to reaching Montana in hopes of saving his family's ranch before it's too late. Meanwhile, Alexandra's life is on the line after the couple who helped her died of frostbite, leaving her stranded in the freezing wilderness. 'Jacob [Harrison Ford]
Warning: Spoilers ahead for the 1923 Season 2 finale.
Julia Schlaepfer as Alexandra in season 1 , Episode 6 of 1923 streaming on Paramount+.
The 1923 Season 2 finale saw the long-awaited reunion between Spencer and Alexandra, along with plenty of bloodshed and losses—both for the Duttons and the opposing group working for wealthy mining tycoon Donald Whitfield, who remains determined to turn their land into a tourist attraction.
Alexandra, stranded in the cold, manages to start a fire, which attracts the attention of the train Spencer is on. He (literally) leaps off the train, and they share an emotional reunion. However, once she's aboard, a doctor visits her and reveals she has severe frostbite on her hands and feet and needs to be taken to a hospital immediately.
At the train station, a firefight breaks out between Whitfield's men and the Duttons, who are desperate to reach Spencer before their enemies do. Scottish sheep farmer and Whitfield's right-hand man, Banner Creighton, experiences a change of heart in the final episode but is killed at the station after saving Jacob's life. Jacob is also shot during the ambush—though he tells the doctor it might be an old wound—and he accompanies Alexandra to the hospital, while Spencer races home to save the ranch.
Spencer arrives just in time, killing the last of Whitfield's men who managed to break into the house. With the Yellowstone now secured, he rushes back to the hospital, where Alexandra and her newborn baby are in critical condition. She tells Spencer that the doctors want to amputate her hands and legs to save her life, but she refuses, not wanting to live that way. Her baby, John II, survives, but Alexandra dies in Spencer's arms.
Spencer marches to Whitfield's mansion, where he shoots him multiple times—first demanding that he say Alexandra's name and blaming him for her death. Ultimately, Jacob and Spencer set the mansion on fire to destroy any evidence of what happened there.
As for Teonna Rainwater, she's detained by Marshal Fossett and brought to trial. However, with all the witnesses to her alleged crimes dead, the charges are dismissed. Two Spears gives her a gun and a horse, and she begins her journey west—likely returning to the Crow Reservation in Montana, where her family is from.
Elizabeth decides to leave Yellowstone after learning of Jack's death, as there's nothing left tying her to the ranch. She promises to write to Cara. Meanwhile, Cara steps in to raise Spencer's son, John—just as she once helped raise Spencer and his brother, John Dutton Sr., after their mother, Margaret, was found frozen in a snowdrift. She and Jacob never had children of their own.
In the final moments of 1923 Season 2, viewers learn more about Spencer Dutton's life—including that he never remarried after Alexandra's death. According to Elsa Dutton's voiceover, he found comfort in the arms of a widow and fathered another son, but one day, the widow was gone.
Spencer died 45 years after Alexandra's passing, and a flash forward shows him visiting her grave after his old age stole many of his memories of her. In a dreamlike sequence, Spencer appears in a suit, standing in a bustling ballroom. Across the room, he sees Alexandra, wearing the same dress she wore when they first met in Africa in Season 1, Episode 2. Their eyes meet, and he walks toward her, takes her hand, and they begin to dance.
Brandon Sklenar as Spencer in season 2, episode 4 of 1923 streaming on Paramount+.
Paramount+ has not confirmed whether 1923 will return for a third season. However, creator Taylor Sheridan told Deadline back in 2022 that Season 2 would be the final chapter of the Yellowstone prequel. And based on how the finale wraps up, particularly with the reveal of Spencer's fate in the voiceover, it appears the story has come to an end.
However, this might not be the last we see of Spencer Dutton. Another Yellowstone prequel, 1944, is in the works and will continue the Dutton family story during World War II. Since we know from the voiceover that Spencer doesn't die until 1969, it's entirely possible he could be drafted to fight again. Then again, 1944 could feature an entirely new cast, just as 1923 did following 1883.
Given the massive success and high viewership numbers of Season 2, there is always the possibility the series could continue. The Season 2 finale drew 17 million global views (up 41 percent from Season 1), while the season overall tracked 56 percent ahead in streaming numbers compared to its predecessor, according to Paramount Global.
While Ford and Mirren have not spoken publicly about the possibility of a third season, Brandon Sklenar (Spencer Dutton) told The Hollywood Reporter in May 2023 that the show will likely end with Season 2.
'No, no, it's bookend," he said at the time. 'It's still limited, but I think of it as one piece — there's just a split in the middle, but it's all one piece. It will conclude.'
The Season 2 finale of 1923 is streaming on Paramount+. Watch the official trailer below.