Michelle Randolph on That Major 1923 Episode 5 Reveal: ‘It Can't All Be Good'

Elle

12 hours ago

Spoilers for 1923 season one ahead.
'You know Taylor [Sheridan],' Michelle Randolph teases over Zoom. 'When something good happens, something bad happens.'
The actress behind 1923's Elizabeth Stafford is espousing what might as well be the thesis of creator Sheridan's Yellowstone cinematic universe as a whole: The sprawling cowboy opera—with not one but two spin-off shows—is forever riding the pendulum swing between the dirty and the divine among the American West. There is no good in Sheridan's world without its inverse nipping at its heels.
And so episode 5 of 1923 offers a joyful surprise...if you're willing to believe Sheridan has quelled his crueler instincts. In 'Ghost of Zebrina,' the Dutton family—led by Harrison Ford's Jacob and Helen Mirren's Cara—are reeling from the loss of multiple family members. Their oldest nephew, John Dutton I (James Badge Dale), has died of a gunshot wound from last episode's spar between cattle ranchers and sheep herders. And it's not long into episode 5 before they're burying another loved one: Emma Dutton (Marley Shelton), John's widow, kills herself shortly after his death. Together, they leave behind a son, Jack Dutton (Darren Mann), who's yet to marry the lovely Elizabeth Stafford thanks, in no small part, to his thirst for filial revenge. As Yellowstone spin-off 1883's Elsa Dutton narrates at the beginning of 'Ghost of Zebrina,' Jack's elected to 'spend his evenings patrolling headquarters, choosing revenge over passion.'
This isn't exactly what the young Miss Strafford signed up for. As of episode 4, Elizabeth had chosen life on the range over the ritz of New York, where her mother returned after Elizabeth's own father died. An East Coaster since birth, Elizabeth might be familiar with ranching—her family owns the land neighboring the Yellowstone—but she knows little of what it requires to be a rancher's wife. 'She's so in love and she chooses Jack,' Randolph tells ELLE.com, 'but that means that she has to shift her entire way of thinking because she's been a city girl.'
So when the love of her life eschews her company in favor of war plans, she doesn't take too kindly to her abandonment. 'You haven't lost anything I haven't lost,' she tells Jack, referring to her now-deceased father and long-gone mother. 'I'm an orphan, too, now. All we have is each other, and I don't even have that.'
Jack's response, rather than to argue with his bride, is to marry her on the spot. In true Sheridan fashion, they exchange vows—in the eyes of God, anyway, if not exactly the church—while overlooking the sweeping plains of the Dutton ranch, their hair blowing in the breeze and tears streaming down their cheeks. Cara watches from afar, renewed by the energy of their young love.
It's a scene Randolph feels was vital to establishing the dynamic of the pre-present day Duttons. Elizabeth is 'the sunshine' of the group, Randolph says. 'It's a nice contrast to the Dutton family because she learns so much from them. But I think she has a lot to teach them as well. She is, in some ways, a good positive influence: that no matter what hardships she goes through, she still chooses to look at the world through a glass-half-full eye, which is rare. And it's beautiful because the world hardens you, especially when you're caught in all the Dutton family drama.' She adds, 'I think that's why Jack loves her so much, too. Because she's a light.'
The California born-and-bred Randolph says she believes Sheridan cast her in the role because he recognized that same vibrancy in Randolph herself. 'I felt like I understood where [Elizabeth] could be underestimated a little bit and perceived with less strength than I think that she has,' Randolph says.
Still, knowing Sheridan, she approached episode 5's big reveal with trepidation. In one of the chapter's final scenes, the audience learns Jack finally put aside brooding long enough to spend at least a little time with his wife, for his darling Elizabeth is suddenly expecting a child. (Not to worry, Cara says, swooping in; she'll make sure a real wedding covers up any threat of scandal.) Randolph was thrilled to think of what that news might mean for the Dutton family—might Elizabeth be the grandmother to Kevin Costner's John Dutton III, of Yellowstone infamy?—before her joy quickly gave way to worry.
'When I booked the show, I had only read the first three episodes, so I had no idea, "Am I going to die?"' Randolph says, laughing. 'I had so many ideas in my head of where it could go. I mean, we were filming before I even read episodes 7 and 8. And so I was excited to find out that [Elizabeth] was pregnant and hopefully carrying on the line of Duttons. But I also wondered, "Well, what's going to happen next?" Because you know Taylor, and it can't be all good.'
Elizabeth's pregnancy has major implications for the Dutton family tree and Randolph herself. If Elizabeth is John Dutton III's grandmother, then she'll likely continue to be a major character in 1923. But if she isn't, then who is? Might it be Alex (Julia Schlaepfer), the fiery new partner of Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar), Jack's uncle? And if it is Alex, what does that mean for Elizabeth's longevity in a land as harsh and unforgiving as the Yellowstone?
1923 has a future, regardless: The show was renewed for season 2, with Ford and Mirren set to reprise their roles. When asked if she plans to return as Elizabeth for the sophomore chapter, Randolph only smiles and says, 'I hope so.'
This interview originally appeared on ELLE US in February 2023.
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