Harrison Ford has ditched his Indiana Jones fedora hat and Helen Mirren her English crown as the veteran Hollywood heavyweights reunite on screen in the massive global franchise that is Yellowstone.

In a prequel spin-off called 1923 – which launches on December 18 – the award-winning actors get down and dirty as the origin series unpacks how the sprawling Western Montana ranch, Yellowstone, was developed by the Dutton family in the early 20th century.

A day after season five of present-day Yellowstone – starring Kevin Costner as cowboy billionaire rancher John Dutton – broke audience records with its Monday night premiere of 12.1 million viewers, the first trailer of 1923 was released to the delight of Yellowstone fans.

Another prequel 1883, released last year, is the set-up series that begins after the American Civil War when the Duttons head north from Texas and settle in Montana.

Set a century earlier during pandemics, historic drought, the end of Prohibition and the Great Depression, the frontier Duttons in 1923 are played by patriarch Jacob (Ford) and matriarch Cara (Mirren).

Reuniting after four decades – their last onscreen partnership was the 1986 film The Mosquito Coast – Ford and Mirren’s characters explore what life was like for the second and third generation of Duttons with fights over land ownership and power grabs.

For Oscar winner Mirren, it was a chance to portray the Irish immigrant story.

“It’s a real investigation of American history,” she tells Vanity Fair in an exclusive interview.

For Ford, it was time to play a “silverback”, a patriarch of a family at the crossroads, he says in the same interview.

“They can lose it all in a season … they’re up against weather, the economy, the influx of railroads, and the change in the cattle business,” he said.

“It’s a complicated time. It’s a volatile time. They are land-rich, but they are cash-poor because everything is put back into the business, into the ranch.

“Everything is hard fought for. I don’t think of them as rich. I think of them as having a degree of power based on their historical presence in the area based on hard work.”

What’s Yellowstone’s appeal?

The modern-day Yellowstone story is an overtly dramatised history lesson of sorts (with a fictionalised base), and the immense appeal lies somewhere in between.

White wealthy cowboys take control of Native American Indian country, farming tens of thousands of sheep and cattle and getting rich off the land, and carry guns and rifles to breakfast.

There’s immersive love stories, unsolved murders and lots of power play between hungry developers and “rightful” land owners.

VF points out the NBC Universal series (the fifth season streams here on Stan) combines “stunning cinematography with storylines reminiscent of Succession’s power grabs, The Godfather’s mob mentality, and Dallas’ bitchy infighting – except with cattle”.

“At a glance, Yellowstone does look like a white male conservative power fantasy – and a white conservative female fantasy of the protection that comes with that,” it wrote last year after the fourth season.

“We’ve seen a stream of villainous billionaire developers eager to refashion this natural wonder into ski resorts and second homes. We’ve seen alliances change faster than a horse bucks a cowboy at the rodeo.

There’s a constant mocking of outsiders and Californian tourists, with “city folk” … depicted as weak, soft-handed interlopers.

“Most every granola tourist is from the Golden State, and they often meet gruesome ends, thanks to their arrogance about the landscape’s beauty, which hides danger at every turn.”

Since its launch, Yellowstone has been a cash cow for producers, with last year’s season four premiere attracting more than 14 million viewers and the finale delivering over 15 million viewers.

By comparison, Succession‘s third-season finale in December brought in just 1.7 million viewers across all platforms.

There’s a lot going on under the surface of the storylines: Whether it’s racism, the fact Dutton is a fading patriarch, or the ever-present struggles of the Native Americans on the reservations who endure poverty, suicide and addiction (and are “spared caricature” thanks to Crow Nation on-set consultancy).

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Yellowstone snubbed at awards

Created by Taylor Sheridan, his flagship Yellowstone series was again snubbed by the Television Academy’s annual award-fest in July, including spin-off 1883.

Yellowstone attracted just one award overall, while shows like Ted Lasso, Succession, Squid Game and The White Lotus all raked in multiple nominations and awards.

Some say the country and western genre, with its horses and cowboys and gun violence – notwithstanding the men and cattle all get branded with the same Dutton logo – doesn’t warrant Emmy recognition.

Other critics describe the series as “anti-woke”.

However, based on a number of factors including less coverage on pop-culture websites to a whopping 559 English-speaking shows on streaming services last year, The Hollywood Reporter says the Emmy “shutout” days could be over.

Why?

Bring on 1923, which will attract more viewers and old-school Ford and Mirren fans, and a commitment by Paramount to “seriously target the TV academy”.

“And like a handful of other unconventional shows before it, including Breaking Bad and Schitt’s Creek, Yellowstone‘s best days at the Emmys may well come several seasons into its run,” THR wrote.

1923 streams exclusively on Paramount+ from December 19