Taylor Sheridan’s 1923 tells a complex and beautiful story of the days of Duttons past, and a large part of the story that fans can’t get enough of centers around Spencer Dutton and Alexandra. Spencer is the sun of the late James and Margaret Dutton, and Alexandra is the woman he fell for quickly, their worlds shaken up in every possible way since their chance encounter.
The bond between the pair was so intense that it felt tangible, almost like the chemistry between them was radiating from our television screens. They’re the kind of love story we all hope to happen upon in our lives, full of moments so charged that you’re scared even to blink, not wanting to miss a moment.
Julia Schlaepfer, who breathes life into Alex, says there’s an exact moment when she falls in love with Spencer, and the moment for him happens soon after. She speaks with Collider about her conversation with 1923 showrunner Taylor Sheridan about the recognition and magnitude of that very moment.
“The exact moment she starts falling in love with him is when they meet in that first scene when he looks her in the eye after ignoring her. That whole conversation. He looks her in the eye, and he says, ‘Dying is the closest thing to being alive that you’ll ever feel.’ In that moment, she thinks, ‘Whoa, you are the embodiment of everything, all the freedom and adventure that I’ve ever wanted for myself.’ When she looks at him and gives it back to him and is like, ‘You don’t see the romance in that?’ That’s when it starts to happen for him.”
That moment was a big one, in fact — if you ask Dutton fans what some of their favorite scenes throughout the entire Yellowverse are, this is a top contender for many. Of course, there’s more building than that initial attraction that had us all fanning ourselves like Blanche Devereaux herself. While their appeal was undeniably and quite sultry, they offered each other a promise, hope, and a future they’d each been certain would never belong to them.
Spencer was happy to spend his life running, and Alex was about to marry into a bond with a plan but no romance. They knew what their futures looked like and had them all mapped out, but fate threw a wrench in their plans — thrusting them into a life of wild abandon and magic. Schlaepfer says that their love story is still unfolding, and it’s a story full of authenticity and beautiful love.
“It’s really beautiful because you get to see this love story unfold in a way where it starts as this instant chemical attraction. [But] is this real? Is this just sexy and hot and exciting for them? As the season goes on more and more, you watch their love develop into this real thing because they’re tested over and over and over again, and they have to choose each other over and over and over again. Watching their love mature and become grounded and become a real thing for both of them, there are many moments throughout the season where you’ll watch it hit them again and again in a different way and coming from a different direction. It just continues to intensify, but I think it starts from that first moment. That’s not to say there aren’t doubts along the way, but when she hears him say that, she’s like, ‘Okay, I’ve never met somebody like this in my life.’”
Neither Alex nor Spencer could have anticipated that their paths would cross or that they’d bring such a show of joy and magic to one another, but that’s the name of the game in the Yellowverse; there’s magic waiting around every corner, and also a lot of tragedy — let’s hope these two err on the side of captivating love instead of heartache.
If you’ve missed a moment of 1923 so far, you’ve got just enough time to catch up on the first four episodes of the Yellowstone prequel before the next four begin airing with a new one this Sunday, Feb. 5, on Paramount Plus. Sundays are for the Duttons, and Alex and Spencer are a powerhouse couple in the family tree, one that fans are waiting on bated breath to see more of.
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