On the very same day we received word about the upcoming end of Yellowstone and the launch of a Yellowstone sequel, there has been another news flash from the Taylor Sheridan universe: All ten episodes of 1883, the award-winning Yellowstone prequel starring Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Isabel May and LaMonica Garrett, will air back to back starting at 8 pm ET June 18 on Paramount Network.
Yes, you read that correctly: On Paramount Network, not the streaming service Paramount+. 1883 originally was presented on the latter platform, and is still available there for binging. For the June 18 marathon, Paramount Network will sweeten the deal by offering extended featurettes at the end of each episode.
For the benefit of those who tuned in late: 1883 focuses on the ancestors of Yellowstone/Dutton Ranch paterfamilias John Dutton (Kevin Costner) as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. As the original Paramount+ announcement explained: “It is a stark retelling of Western expansion, and an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America's promised land — Montana.”
Elliott earned a Screen Actors Guild award for Outstanding Performance by Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie for his starring (and stirring) performance as Shea Brennan, a hard-bitten Pinkerton with sadness in his past, and little patience for suffering fools. Along with Thomas (Garrett), his long-time friend and fellow Pinkerton, Brennan shoulders the challenge of guiding a group that includes James (McGraw) and Margaret Dutton (Hill) and their daughter Elsa (May) from Texas to Montana.
Other cast members include Martin Sensmeier, Billy Bob Thornton, Gratiela Brancusi, Marc Rissmann, Audie Rick, Eric Nelsen, James Landry Hébert — and, briefly, Dawn Oliveri, who currently has a prominent role as scheming wheeler-dealer Sarah Atwood in another Taylor Sheridan series, Yellowstone.