Will Spencer & Alex Lead ‘1944’? All the Hints They Will

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for 1923 Season 2.]

Elsa Dutton’s (Isabel May) narrations in the very first episode of 1923 warned that only one of James (Tim McGraw) and Margaret Dutton’s (Faith Hill) children would live to carry on the Dutton legacy into the future. Given that John Dutton I (James Badge Dale) died in 1923 Season 1 and Elsa died at the end of 1883, Spencer Dutton (Brandon Sklenar) is clearly that child. But this narration may also hint that Spencer is going to be the main character of 1944, the next supposed Yellowstone spinoff. It’s been a while since there have been any updates about that previously announced prequel (and no cast or characters or plot have been announced), but it’s reportedly still on the table. There are some other subtle details that make us think Spencer’s great love, Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer), will lead 1944 alongside him, should the show ever come to pass.

1883 told the story of how the Duttons ended up building their home in Paradise Valley, Montana. Where Elsa died is where the Duttons stayed. Elsa narrated 1883 and 1923, and she was heard again in the Yellowstone series finale to tell the end of the Dutton’s story as stewards of that land. By killing off John halfway through Season 1 and centering 1923 around Spencer since the beginning — along with Jacob (Harrison Ford) and Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren) as the Duttons who took James’ dream and “made it an empire,” as Elsa’s pilot narration also states — Taylor Sheridan is making clear that Jacob and Spencer are the Dutton men with the most impact on the family’s history.

Essentially, Spencer is the Elsa of this spinoff, but his sister’s foreshadowing hints that he won’t suffer the similar fate of dying young like his siblings.

“My father had three children,” Elsa says in the 1923 series premiere. “Only one would live to see their own children grow. Only one would carry the fate of this family through the Depression and every other hell the 20th century hurled at them.”

You could read “only one would live to see their own children grow” and “only one would carry the fate of this family” as being about the two brothers, given that John did live to see his son, Jack (Darren Mann), grow to adulthood. But Elsa specifically said children, so it must be about Spencer and it must mean that he’ll have more than one child. As revealed in 1923 Season 2 Episode 4, Jack’s wife Elizabeth (Michelle Randolph) is pregnant again following her Season 1 miscarriage. Alex is also pregnant. Either one of these children could end up being John Dutton II, who will one day father Kevin Costner‘s John Dutton III.

Spencer is the heir of the Dutton ranch. He and his older brother were raised by Uncle Jacob and Aunt Cara after their last living parent, Margaret, died (James’ death was shown in flashback in Yellowstone Season 4 set years after the plot of 1883 but before the Dutton mansion was built on the land). There’s a war brewing between the Duttons and evil capitalist Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton) in 1923. Zane Davis actor Brian Geraghty told TV Insider that there’s a lot more high-stakes action to come in this rivalry in Season 2, and with only three episodes left in the season/potentially the series, things are clearly going to have to escalate quickly. Should Jack and Elizabeth die in the upcoming conflict, Spencer and Alex could take in their child as their own like Jacob and Cara did with Spencer and John.

That, or Spencer and Alex could just have more of their own children after their eventual reunion on the ranch. Given the violent nature of this TV franchise, it would be valid to fear that Alex could die in 1923 — perhaps in childbirth. But we predict that this couple is going to have a chance at their happily ever.

The couple is the fan-favorite of the franchise after Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser) from Yellowstone. Elsa’s narration says that Spencer will live to see the remainder of the 20th century. Should 1923 Season 2 be the final season like the cast has implied (though this remains unconfirmed by Paramount+), and with these lovers still separated and en route to Montana with only three episodes left this season, it would be wildly disappointing to see Alex die right after they were reunited. We think it’s more likely that Spencer and Alex are going to reunite on the ranch in the finale (or possibly the episode before), and then their elder selves will lead the 1944 spinoff. With Yellowstone continuing with a Beth and Rip spinoff, Spencer and Alex leading 1944 would make it so the franchise-favorite couples are the ones leading the TV universe.

Mirren told People that Jacob and Cara are a rare example of getting to see the “ever after” of a love story onscreen. “In movies, people get married or they meet-cute and they fall in love and they have hot sex or whatever, and then it’s all over, happily ever after,” she said. “[1923] is the ever after.”

“Now we’re seeing what happens at the end of that story,” she continued, “and you very rarely see that onscreen, but it’s actually something that people love to see.”

1923 is the ever after of Jacob and Cara’s love story, the couple that made the Dutton empire. 1944 could show the ever after for Spencer and Alex, the first generation of Duttons to inherit the empire. And the Yellowstone Beth and Rip spinoff is the ever after for the modern-day Duttons carrying on the family’s legacy. Time will tell if our theory is right.

1923, Sundays, Paramount+