The behemoth that is Yellowstone is well truly taking over the world right now, and the TV series even has megastars like Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren gracing the screen in Yellowstone 1923. Turns out Mirren wasn’t just content with being a part of the Yellowstone cast, she actually brought ideas to the table to improve her character, too.
1923 is a prequel story in the Yellowstone timeline, detailing the lives of Jacob Dutton (Ford) and Cara Dutton (Mirren). The drama series is currently airing on the streaming service Paramount Plus, and there’s already plans to line up a Yellowstone 1923 season 2 release date, such is the popularity of the show.
Cara Dutton is a great character, but she could have been very different had Mirren not shaped her the way she did. Speaking to Deadline, the actor revealed what changes she made to the role when she first read the script.
“The script arrives, I see the character and the way the character is developing, and I could see it was like me. [Taylor Sheridan] had written specifically to my strengths, if you like. I thought of making her Irish because America very much in those days was a country of immigrants. I wanted to heighten that fact. He said, ‘Absolutely. That’s fine.’ And off we went,” Mirren explained.
“We don’t go into the backstory, but the reality was America in the late 19th century, early 20th century was full of many different accents. When we were shooting in Butte, which was an old mining town, the miners came from Moldova, Scotland, Wales, Ireland. They came from Poland. So there would’ve been this absolute mishmash of different accents and different cultures and different foods. That was how America was born,” she added.
She has a point, too. And giving Cara Dutton that context and depth is something you don’t even think about as a viewer but it’s so important to breathing life into the character. So, well done Helen, good call!
For more from the Dutton family, check out our guides to the Yellowstone 6666 release date or the 1883 season 2 release date, or find out where to watch Yellowstone. Alternatively, look to the big screen with our list of all the new movies this year, or the best westerns around.