When you see the label "Western", you probably react a lot like me, in that you assume at first the default would be a movie. Westerns propped up Hollywood for decades, long before the era of prestige TV, after all.
While some of the biggest and best Westerns of the last couple of decades are still movies, there have also been some hugely successful TV and streaming series, from Deadwood to (in a way) Westworld, and the latest and greatest seems to be 1923. This prequel to Yellowstone had a great first season, and its second just got a flagship trailer before it starts on 23 February.
The show stars a grizzled but game Harrison Ford opposite Helen Mirren as the patriarch and matriarch of the Dutton clan, decades before the events of Yellowstone, which became a sensationally popular show. It's gritty and gets to revel in the interwar period that it makes its home.
This time around their land is under threat once more, from a grinningly evil Timothy Dalton, who's looking to transform it into a resort for the rich and famous, offering everything from skiing to hiking. It's the classic David vs Goliath template that has served the franchise so well to this point.
Meanwhile their son Spencer is making a long and arduous journey home across America to help them, and I'd put safe money on a late-season montage that gets him back just in time to avert a crisis or win some sort of a fight. It's the sort of suspenseful stuff that 1923 managed nicely in its first season, according to reviews.
That's my way of admitting that I never caught that season of the show – but thanks to this pacy and exciting trailer, I'm adding it to my watchlist. After all, I love a good Western, and this seems the perfect way of getting my fix without having to commit to watching a 3-hour epic on a random weekday evening after cooking. Of course, that means getting Paramount+, which will be worth it to see where it ranks for me in the list of the best streaming services I can get my hands on.
