‘1883’ Trailer: The Road to ‘Yellowstone’ Is Paved With Blood (VIDEO)

Sam Elliot as Shea in 1883
Emerson Miller/Paramount+

Don’t mess with the Duttons. It’s a lesson that many have learned on Yellowstone, now four seasons in on Paramount Network, and one that will be taught in its origin story in Taylor Sheridan’s prequel 1883.

These new Duttons — patriarch James (Tim McGraw), his wife Margaret (Faith Hill), and their daughter Elsa (Isabel May) — are heading west through the Great Plains toward the last bastion of untamed America. (James says to his wife, “I believe in you, and I believe in that boy and I believe in our daughter and that’s all.”)

Guiding them is cowboy Shea Brennan (Sam Elliott), with his right-hand man, Pinkerton agent Thomas (LaMonica Garrett). Among Shea’s warnings in the official trailer for the Paramount+ series: “This journey will be dangerous” and “you can police yourselves or I can do it.”

Also glimpsed in the new preview is Billy Bob Thornton’s Marshal Jim Courtright. “There’s only one killer in Fort Worth, and that’s me,” he says after showing just that. Watch the intense video below for a further look at the Duttons’ journey.

1883 is described as “a stark retelling of Western expansion, and an intense study of one family fleeing poverty to seek a better future in America’s promised land — Montana.” Paramount Network will air a special simulcast premiere on December 19 after a new episode of Yellowstone.

“In every episode, there’s one more hurdle: famine, thieves, natural disasters, crossing rivers and mountains,” Elliott told TV Insider. The series, executive producer David Glasser said, is “a postcard to America, the beauty of this country and a journey to make a better life.”

Produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and 101 Studios, 1883 is executive produced by Sheridan, John Linson, Art Linson, Glasser, Ron Burkle, and Bob Yari.

1883, Series Premiere, Sunday, December 19, Paramount+