SUMMARY
- Despite receiving positive reviews, the show 1883 only got one season because the creators wanted to tell a complete story in a 10-hour movie format.
- The focus is now shifting to other Yellowstone prequel shows like 1923, as well as Lawmen: Bass Reeves, which is not a direct sequel to 1883 but explores new characters and storylines.
- Lawmen: Bass Reeves has been well-received and has its own separate identity from 1883, garnering positive reviews and a high IMDb score.
Why did the show 1883 only get one season despite receiving positive reviews from critics? Created by Taylor Sheridan, 1883 is a prequel that takes place 135 years before the events of Yellowstone. The show follows the ancestors of John Dutton III (Kevin Costner) as the early Dutton family attempts to settle on the land that would later become the iconic Yellowstone Ranch. While the 1883 series primarily follows the Dutton family and their journey from Tennessee to Montana, the show also explores various characters’ backstories as many of them enlisted in and fought for either the Union or the Confederacy during the US Civil War.
While the show features a large ensemble of characters, 1883 primarily focuses on 4 of them: patriarch James Dillard Dutton (Tim McGraw), matriarch Margaret Dutton (Faith Hill), their 17-year-old daughter and the show’s narrator, Elsa Dutton (Isabel May), and Pinkerton agent and leader of the wagon train Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott). Due to the series being only 10 episodes long, 1883 manages to be a very tightly-written and paced show that explores the history of the Dutton family while also delivering a bittersweet ending that results in one of the Dutton family’s deaths. However, despite this show’s success, why did it get only one season?
Taylor Sheridan Says 1883 Was Intended To Be A “Ten-Hour Movie”
The reason why 1883 is not getting a second season is that Sheridan and his creative team have told the story that they wanted to tell, so there is neither a need nor a desire to produce a second season. According to Sheridan;
“We wanted to make a 10-hour movie that ended, and that’s what we did. For me, as a storyteller it feels close ended.”
(via Town and Country). 1833 reached its natural conclusion, and Sheridan made it clear that making a second season would be unnecessary. Instead, he is focusing on the other Yellowstone prequel shows like 1923 and the upcoming Lawmen: Bass Reeves.
