Yellowstone creator Taylor Sheridan has long been vocal about his goals in making his shows as authentic as possible, from insisting on filming scenes on real Native American reservations to accurately depicting the gritty life of the American West in the 1800s. While his latest prequel series 1923 introduces fans to a new generation of Duttons led by Hollywood icons Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren, he also shines a light on some of the more troublesome elements in this period of American history. In addition to touching on Prohibition and the catastrophic drought Montana faced at the time, Sheridan highlights the true and tragic occurrences of American Indian youth forced to live in government-mandated boarding schools.
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While the 1923 premiere episode gave fans a glimpse of the Yellowstone Ranch and everyone involved, it also introduced a new storyline that was, at times, difficult to watch. As episode 2 and subsequent episodes prove, it's not going to get any easier to digest. But that seems to be Sheridan's goal here: telling the truth of what happened regardless of how hard it is for people to watch. Jennifer Ehle — known for her award-winning role as Elizabeth Bennett in the Pride and Prejudice BBC miniseries as well as films such as Zero Dark Thirty and Fifty Shades of Grey — is equally captivating and terrifying as Sister Mary, one of the nuns working in the boarding school featured in 1923. She has a complicated relationship with one of her students, Teonna (Aminah Nieves), who is desperate to leave the school and return home to her family. Nieves, a relative Hollywood newcomer with a few credits under her belt, really shines as the presumed ancestor of Yellowstone's Thomas Rainwater. Her spirit and determination to survive help her endure some of the most unimaginable terrors.
Some of the most violent scenes in the series so far have taken place within those boarding school walls, but as actors, you just have to jump right in. In an interview with Wide Open Country, Ehle admits, "It was intense." Her and Nieves' first day of filming included the scenes from the premiere that included Teonna enduring various forms of abuse at the hands of her teacher, ranging from getting struck with a ruler for being unable to answer a question to mopping up her own blood after a beating from the headmaster.
Shining a light on the tragic history of American Indian boarding schools
In recent years, the tragic history of the American Indian boarding schools has been gaining more and more attention in the news, but it still seems to be a subject many are unfamiliar with. Led by the Catholic church, the government approved these mandated schools that sought to "purify" the youth from Indigenous communities — which ended up being done through violent and sadistic measures. Ehle says that she really didn't know any of the details behind the history of these schools in America when she signed on to the series.
"I knew hardly anything about the government schools," she explained. "I knew what had been in the news the preceding year about Canada, and then I knew about when the pope made an apology, but I had no idea it was also in the United States and certainly no idea how widespread it was."
As for Nieves, she was more familiar with the subject matter and how common it actually was at the time. While many may not realize it, these schools were common down in Mexico as well, she said, ripping apart Indigenous communities from Puerto Rico and the Caribbean in addition to all of the Native American tribes affected throughout the United States.
"This religion, they wanted to annihilate," Nieves said. "They wanted to erase. Doing that started with the youth, so it's big. It's a big topic, and I'm really excited for everyone else, including myself, to dive deeper into that story."
A healing and educational process
Though some of the scenes were definitely tough to film, Nieves explained that it was also important for her to take on the role of Teonna, not only to help educate others but also to help with her own personal healing with her ancestors' history.
"It was hard, it's always going to be hard doing something that's uprooting exactly what happened to your own community, but I also felt like it was my duty to continue to share the stories and to do this," she said. "It's a part of my healing personally, and I really hope that this is going to educate on a grander scale than what has been able to be leading up to this point."
With subjects as heavy as this, Taylor Sheridan made sure to be delicate with the way everything was handled on set as well as represented for the cameras. Ehle explained that "there was a lot of respect" when it came to filming all of their scenes, which also included the guidance of two cultural advisers on set, one of whom was Yellowstone actor Mo Brings Plenty.
New episodes of 1923 are streaming every Sunday on Paramount+. Following an initial eight-episode first season, a second season will follow to wrap up this prequel series.
READ MORE: 9 Things We Predict Will Absolutely Happen on the 'Yellowstone' Prequel '1923'
