‘1923’ Stars Talk About Their Beautiful and Sad Ending in Season 2 Finale

The final episode of 1923, the Yellowstone prequel, brought tears and joy to fans. In a two-hour finale, Spencer Dutton (played by Brandon Sklenar) and Alexandra (played by Julia Schlaepfer) finally reunite—first in life, then in death. It’s a touching, emotional ending that left both the actors and fans deeply moved.

“It just hits me right in the heart every time, even just thinking about it now,” Brandon Sklenar told The Hollywood Reporter about filming the last scene. Julia Schlaepfer added, “She’s a piece of me forever and I don’t quite know how I will process everything.”

Spencer and Alex had been apart for most of season two. Their big reunion happened in a powerful scene where Spencer jumps from a moving train to reach Alex, who was frostbitten and stranded on the road.

“That scene is the first time Alex and Spencer are reunited,” Schlaepfer said. “It was also the first time Brandon and I were reunited as actors. It was so surreal.”

Brandon added, “It was the first time Spencer and Alexandra are seeing each other in a long time, and it was emotional.”

The scene was also the first one they filmed together that season. Julia said that after spending the season in “survival mode,” it felt like she and Alex could finally “exhale.”

Alex goes through a heartbreaking journey. During her return to Montana, she gets frostbite. While pregnant, she gives birth early but chooses not to get an amputation. She picks her baby’s life over her own.

She tells Jacob Dutton (played by Harrison Ford), “The mother that would choose herself over a child is no mother at all.”

Filming those scenes with Harrison Ford was a big moment for Julia. “He took such care of me that day,” she said. “At the end of the scene, we both just stared at each other and cried, and he held me while I was on that bed with this baby.”

The goodbye scene on the train was heavy and full of emotion. Spencer and Alex lie together as she dies. “The hospital stuff was incredibly emotional,” said Sklenar. “We had to come up with jokes because it was super heavy and it was a lot of crying. Too much crying, just crying all the time.”

They used robot and CGI babies while filming. Julia laughed, “Brandon did try and play with that little baby a lot, and I was like, ‘Get your paws off of my child.’”

The season ends with Spencer and Alex meeting again in heaven, years later. Spencer dies as an old man, still loving Alex. He had never remarried and was buried next to her.

“It’s the best way to possibly wrap up that story,” Brandon said. “They’re finally both free.”

The scene was full of emotion. “The whole, ‘What took you so long?’ just hits me right in the heart every time,” he said. “I remember filming it and standing in the corner and having to wipe my eyes because it was so beautiful. I was just crying too much all the time.”

It was also the last scene they filmed together. “It was just a trip emotionally for both of us,” Schlaepfer said.

Alex names their baby John, a name that continues in the Dutton family and connects to Yellowstone’s John Dutton III, played by Kevin Costner.

Still, Spencer’s grief over Alex stays with him forever. “Losing his wife, his best friend, is really fucking tragic,” Sklenar said. Julia added, “But he’s my baby! Our baby.”

There’s a chance we’ll see Spencer again in 1944, the next Yellowstone prequel. Sklenar said, “Yeah, definitely. I’d do it.” Julia joked, “I’ll come back and haunt you both.”

Julia Schlaepfer said the experience of playing Alex changed her forever. “It was the hardest job I’ve ever had,” she said. “My heart breaks for her and I learned so much from her.”

“I think that when she died, a piece of me died, too, with her,” she said. “She’s a piece of me forever.”

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