Movies - TV
Paramount Tried To Strongarm Taylor Sheridan Into Changing 1883’s Ending
By JENNA BUSCH
Spoiler Warning!
This story contains spoilers for the Paramount+ series “1883.”
Content Warning
The following story contains discussions of suicide.
Although there were rumors of a Season 2 for the Paramount+ series “1883,” the final episode of Season 1 of the show ended in a devastatingly conclusive way for the Duttons.
Elsa Dutton, the show’s protagonist and narrator, was shot and died from her injuries, while Margaret Dutton and James Dutton settled where Elsa’s life ended.
Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott) made it to the ocean as he had planned and then died by suicide. The Paramount executives were just as surprised as viewers were by how the show ended.
“1883” creator Taylor Sheridan told Deadline, “When [execs] read the last episode of 1883, I don't think they digested what had just happened, even though I made it quite clear.”
He added, “The story I heard is [President of Paramount Global] Bob Bakish watched it and said, ‘Wait a minute, she dies! They all die? What do we do in Season 2?’”
Sheridan told the execs, “There is no Season 2. They're like, there better be a f*****g Season 2 because we already picked it up. I'm sitting here going, guys everyone is dead.”
Despite the show’s decisive ending, Paramount executives pushed to keep the show going. Sheridan said, “They wanted to have a meeting about how Sam Elliott survived his suicide.”
Sheridan told Paramount he’d see what else he could come up with and then conceived the idea to continue the Dutton’s story with the series “1923,” which is now set for Season 2.