1883: Yellowstone prequel series teaser takes the Dutton family to the wild west

Paramount Network’s neo-western Yellowstone has proven to be a big hit for the network, and it was announced earlier this year that series co-creator Taylor Sheridan was developing a prequel. Paramount+ has released the first teaser for 1883, the Yellowstone prequel series, which you can check out above!

Starring Sam Elliott, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hill, 1883 follows the Dutton family as they embark on a journey west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. 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. I haven’t watched Yellowstone myself, but 1883 does have Sam Elliott’s mustache, and that’s probably enough to draw me in. What say you? Did the teaser for the Yellowstone prequel series work for you? In addition to Elliot, McGraw, and Hill, 1883 will also star Isabel May, LaMonica Garrett, and Billy Bob Thornton.

Taylor Sheridan has previously teased that the prequel series will give fans a little insight into just how Kevin Costner’s character in the modern-day series has been able to amass so much land, but it will also dispel a few myths about the ol’ west. “The Westerns, in their heyday, followed a very simplistic storyline: You’ve got the white hat or the black hat — the good guy and the bad guy — and a lot of it was justifying their positions,” Sheridan explained. “What I try to do is paint a true reflection of a time and a place.“

Speaking of just how popular Yellowstone has become, the fourth season of the series premiered last night and broke its own ratings record. The premiere drew 8 million viewers, which is a 104% increase from the last season’s premiere episode and makes it the most-watched cable series broadcast since a 2018 episode of The Walking Dead. 1883 will debut on Paramount+ on December 19, 2021.