Spoilers for the Season 2 premiere of 1923 lie ahead. If you are not caught up, you can stream the Western with a Paramount+ subscription and catch new episodes after that every Sunday.
Well, 1923’s season on the 2025 TV schedule started with a bang and a big reveal. In terms of the big reveal, I’m referring to the fact that Alex, Spencer Dutton’s wife, is pregnant and she’s “running out of time” to get to America and back to him. Obviously, this is a big deal for the show generally. However, it also has the potential to impact the entire Dutton family tree. So, with that in mind, I asked the actress behind Alex, Julia Schlaepfer, about the theories surrounding the Yellowstone characters’ ancestors and how her character plays into it.
All the connections between the various Yellowstone shows fascinate me to no end. I’m particularly intrigued by the connections between 1923 and the modern Yellowstone Duttons, who were led by Kevin Costner’s John. At the moment, we don’t know whether Jack or Spencer is the grandfather of John III and the great-grandfather of Beth, Kayce, Lee and Jamie. However, the development that Alex is pregnant certainly puts some exclamation points behind the question mark.
Thinking about all that, I asked Schlaepfer how she feels about the discourse surrounding Alex, Spencer and the Dutton family tree, and she told me:
I mean, it’s so funny, because truly, everyone was like – they want to know, and we didn’t know. You know? We didn’t know. And honestly, still, we don’t know, because there’s so many years between 1923 and today, I don’t know, anything could happen. It’s so cool that people really care.
People really do care, including me, and I’ve spent a long time thinking about which Dutton could be the grandfather of John Dutton in Yellowstone. Here are the two theories:
- Jack and Elizabeth are the parents of John Dutton II, who is the father of John Dutton III (Costner). This would make sense, because Jack’s father is John Dutton Sr., and he passed away early in Season 1. I could see them naming their son after him. However, Elizabeth had a miscarriage during Season 1, making the future of these two having kids unclear.
- Spencer and Alex are the parents of John Dutton II. Considering Spencer is John’s younger brother, it would also make sense for him and Alex to pass down that name. Plus, Alex is now pregnant on the show, meaning it’s possible she’ll give birth to John Dutton II.
Based on the actual year Kevin Costner was born, 1955, and assuming his character John is around the same age, it’s not far-fetched to believe that his father would have been born during the 1920s and been in his early 30s when his son was born. Therefore, it tracks that either Jack or Spencer would be John Dutton III’s grandfather.
However, Schlaepfer would like us to know that there could always be a twist, and the Dutton family tree is still very much in flux, as she explained:
We do find out she’s pregnant, and it’s exciting. It’s exciting to think that could be a legacy for the family. And, yeah, it’s a special world to be a part of, regardless of who’s the great, great, great, you know, whatever of the family. I just feel so honored to be a part of the family in any way.
Personally, I think it’d make perfect sense if that baby she’s carrying ended up being John Dutton II. I’ve always felt like Alex had some Beth in her, and considering Spencer is set up to be one of, if not the, big hero of this story, it’d make the most sense if they were the couple to directly continue the Dutton lineage.
That’s just a theory though. So, while Spencer and Alex find their way back to each other, we’ll just have to hold on tight for this wild journey that will hopefully conclude with a healthy baby and a definitive answer about which Dutton from the 1923 generation is the direct ancestor of the Duttons we know in Yellowstone.