“If I quit right now, I will have done what I set out to do.”
Sam Elliott fulfilled a childhood dream when he signed on to play Civil War veteran Shea Brennan in Yellowstone prequel series 1883. In a June 22 interview with AP, the Tombstone star reflected on his SAG Award-winning role and the relationships (and props) he took from set: “If I quit right now, I will have done what I set out to do.”
Elliott has been rewatching 1883 as it airs on Paramount Network this summer, and he’s immensely proud of the epic frontier story.
“I know that at this point in my life, there’s not going to be a better one that’s going to come along than this,” he told AP. “I feel like on some level, if I quit right now, I will have done what I set out to do when I was 9 years old wanting to be an actor. I’m spoiled.”
1883 took viewers back to the beginning of the Dutton family saga, when the ancestors of Kevin Costner’s John Dutton first settled the Yellowstone ranch in Montana. Elliott played Shea Brennan, a tragic Union Army veteran tasked with leading a wagon train through the Oregon Trail. Tim McGraw, Faith Hill and Isabel May also starred as ancestral Duttons.
“I’m glad I was there at the beginning and not three or four or five shows down the line,” Elliott said of signing on to Yellowstone’s acclaimed first prequel, which bowed on Paramount+ in December 2021. Subsequent prequel 1923 is getting a Season 2, and franchise creator Taylor Sheridan recently revealed that he’s planning “three or four” more prequels.
Before joining the Dutton family origin story, Elliott watched only “half an hour” of Yellowstone, which he says reminded him of the delightfully campy Dallas, which aired from 1978 to 1991.
“I’ve watched more of Yellowstone since we shot 1883, mostly out of curiosity,” he said. “I truly feel that Taylor [Sheridan] is brilliant as a writer, but it’s another thing maintaining the quality over the long haul.”
Elliott went on to describe 1883’s grueling months-long shoot in extreme Texas heat and freezing Montana temperatures. “It made it more of a challenge, but it brought an authenticity to it. What was it like for the people who were on those wagon trains going to Oregon back in the day?”
For the Hollywood icon, the hardest thing about filming 1883 was being away from his wife Katharine Ross (The Graduate). The pair have been married since 1984.
“It was a killer. It’s hard on relationships. You can’t live a relationship long distance.”
Even so, Elliott formed a special bond with his co-stars Isabel May (Elsa Dutton), whom he called “stunning,” and LaMonica Garrett (Thomas): “LaMonica and I hit it off right away,” he gushed. “It was just these two brothers that cared for each other.”
Elliott revealed that he took home a special memento from the 1883 set: His character’s Union Army Captain’s badge.
“The prop man gave it to me on the last day,” he said, adding: “I was wearing my own spurs. I always wear my own spurs.”
1883 is currently airing on Paramount Network every Sunday at 8/7c now through August 20. The 10-episode series is also available to stream on Paramount+.