Editor’s note: The below interview contains spoilers for 1923 Season 2 Episode 3.Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone prequel 1923 has finally returned, and already the series has made it clear that there are trials ahead for this generation of Duttons, both in and outside of Montana. While Jacob (Harrison Ford) and Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren) try to keep the fires burning amid a brutal and dangerous winter, they’re also attempting to keep the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch from ending up in the hands of the sadistic business tycoon Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton). Meanwhile, their nephew, Spencer (Brandon Sklenar), has been split up from his new bride, Alex (Julia Schlaepfer), and the two have agreed to make their way to Montana separately, but are already encountering more than their fair share of obstacles on their respective journeys. This week’s episode, “Wrap Thee in Terror,” finds Julia subjected to the abusive and unforgiving inspection of the doctors on Ellis Island before she can be successfully admitted into the United States — and still emerging with her head held high and her sights set on reuniting with Spencer.
Ahead of the episode airing, Collider had the opportunity to speak with Schlaepfer about the biggest moments for her character in “Wrap Thee in Terror.” Over the course of the interview, which you can read below, the actress behind Alexandra Dutton discusses why she felt safe during the eight-hour process of filming the exam scene, what she did to take care of her mental and emotional health afterward, and how Alex’s pregnancy raises the stakes for the entire sequence. Schlaepfer also shares her thoughts on how Alex’s experiences with Spencer in Season 1 have allowed her to navigate Season 2 on her own, how Alex’s love for Spencer is carrying her through, and more.
COLLIDER: Ahead of doing an episode like this one, for you, personally, is there any kind of special mental preparation that you do in anticipation of shooting, as well as any self-care that you give yourself afterward?
JULIA SCHLAEPFER: Going into filming in general, I made sure I had everything memorized front to back every episode — because we had all of them, so that I knew I could go in on the day and just get to focus on the emotional journey of [Alex]. We filmed so fast and so furious. I think we filmed this episode, like, week two of the whole shoot, so I just dove in. Actually, the day that we filmed the violation and assault scene with the doctors was my first day of filming the Ellis Island bit, and I don’t think I realized what I was going to be in for, emotionally, as a person at the end of that day. It was a big learning curve.
Then, from that point on, I made sure to really utilize the intimacy coordinator on set. There was a lot of therapy on the weekends to make sure, mentally, I was okay. Then, physically, I didn’t realize I couldn’t sleep for a while, so I had to start really doing a lot of yoga, I would take boxing classes to get my anger out, things like that. So, I really learned as I went because I had never really done a role like this before, where somebody goes through so much. I’m glad I know those things now.
In general, this show has never shied away from depicting what are, arguably, some of the uglier aspects of history in America. Did you do any research into what the experience was like for women, especially pregnant women, who were going through Ellis Island at the time?
SCHLAEPFER: Yeah, I did. It’s funny, my great-grandfather, Valentino, actually went through Ellis Island in the 1920s, and he had $15 in his pocket, nothing to his name. I know that my family has talked a bit about how he was certainly messed with, because if you didn’t have something to offer, you were messed with and not valued as a human being.
I did a bit of research, but also, interestingly enough, I found that the harder times weren’t as documented. A lot of what was documented was how wonderful Ellis Island was and how high everyone’s spirits were. It didn’t speak of the illnesses and what it would have been like for a woman who was pregnant alone, who was considered to be unmarried. So, at a certain point, it’s such an important piece of history, and I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna take what I know and just focus on Alex’s version of what that would look like, and focus on the beautiful way that Taylor wrote the story,” and dove in that way.
Julia Schlaepfer on Why She Felt Safe Filming Alex’s Exam Scene in 1923

Image via Paramount+

The exam itself is a vulnerable moment for the character. It’s also a vulnerable moment for you, the actor. What were those conversations like, in terms of figuring out the staging and framing of the scene, and then actually going through the beats of that whole sequence?
SCHLAEPFER: So, first thing, Taylor called me before he even wrote the episode and asked if I would be okay for him to write that. He knew what that would entail for me as an actor. I said, “Absolutely. I want to tell that story. It’s what so many people went through.” Then I spoke with the intimacy coordinator, her name is Sarah Scott. She’s incredible. I met with her the morning of, and I met with our director the morning of, and we spent a good amount of time rehearsing; we booked out a good few hours to rehearse every beat of what that would look like. He would explain the shots that he was getting to me, and then it was an entirely closed set.
I love the crew on my show, and they took such good care of me, so I did feel safe with them around me. We have a lot of women crew members, a lot of female camera operators, which is so wonderful to look up at them after a scene like this and have that support. It took us about eight hours in total to get that scene, but everyone handled it with a lot of grace, and I felt I was really able to have a voice if I ever felt uncomfortable or needed a break.
What does Alex’s pregnancy, which is revealed at the beginning of Season 2, really add in terms of stakes? Especially because there is that fear, like you said, that she’s traveling and is perceived to be unmarried, so she’s trying to avoid being sent back.
SCHLAEPFER: Being pregnant completely ups the stakes, and in a massive way for her, because it’s not just about getting herself to Montana. Of course, she wants to make it to Montana to be reunited with Spencer, but it’s not just about her anymore. She has literally a life growing inside of her. So, I think this season, we see so many moments of, truly, the ultimate example of a mother’s love and how much you can endure for your child. Now, every time she has a moment of fear or struggle in everything she faces, she pushes through for the baby. It’s a really beautiful side we see to her. She has to dig so deep in herself to figure out how to literally, physically keep going.
Julia Schlaepfer Loves Seeing Alex’s Feisty Side in ‘1923’

Image via Paramount+

After the exam, Alex is at her most exposed, not just physically but emotionally. It makes that meeting that she has with the supervisor, where she really gets to tell him off, feel like such a little victory. How important is that triumph for her, on the heels of a moment when she’s arguably at her lowest?
SCHLAEPFER: It’s so major. I do think throughout the season it’s all about the little victories that she encounters and that she finds for herself. Those are such important moments. They’re so quick, but they were really important to me because those are the moments we see Alex that I love from Season 1—the ferocious, feisty, optimistic woman. So, that scene was such a joy to film in a very odd way, but I also filmed it after the eight hours of filming the violation scene with the doctors. Also, as Julia, mentally, I was like, “This is so nice to have at the end of my day to snap out of it a little bit.” It’s like a sigh of relief, but also this mini-celebration of, “Okay, I’ve got this. I can do this going into Episode 4. Here we go. We’re going to make it.”

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“I Can’t Think of Anything More Dire”: ‘1923’s Brandon Sklenar Previews What’s Ahead for Spencer Dutton in Season 2

Sklenar also discusses the biggest difference for him in filming the first and second seasons of Taylor Sheridan’s Dutton prequel series.

How does this experience strengthen Alex as a character moving forward? She’s gone through this gauntlet and made it through the other side now.
SCHLAEPFER: Early in Season 1, you see her go through so many other types of challenges. She’s battling lions, and it’s this epic adventure, and Spencer is always there to save the day. Even though she has been in very big danger, she hasn’t felt the weight of it. The danger that she goes through in Episode 3 is the most personal kind of danger and violation, and I don’t think she knew that that kind of danger even existed or was possible.
So, getting through that, completely, we find a new level of strength from her. At this point, she feels like, “Okay, I got through that. I made it through that. I can get through anything.” So, unfortunately, while she never should have had to go through that, I think it opens her eyes to the world a bit more and opens her eyes to her own strength as a person and as a woman.
Julia Schlaepfer Discusses How Alex’s Experiences in ‘1923’ Season 1 Prepared Her for Season 2

It’s also a test because Alex is traveling with all of her wealth, all of her privilege, everything that she’s ever known stripped away. She gets glimpses of what her life used to be like, in terms of the people who walk through Ellis Island with no trouble at all. Knowing what Alex went through in Season 1, though, it feels like she wouldn’t have been able to handle what’s happening in Season 2 if she hadn’t had those experiences with Spencer. Do you feel like that time really prepared her to be able to withstand that hardship, now that she’s forced to be on her own at this point?
SCHLAEPFER: 100%. I think Alex has always, since she was a child, wanted adventure. She wanted to see the world. She didn’t know what that meant, but she wanted it. It seemed exciting. She got her wish in Season 1. She watches Spencer kill a man. She reads these letters about Spencer’s family and the hardships that they endured and is so moved by all of that. Again, she always had Spencer to save the day, so she’s experienced a certain level of, like, “Oh, my life could end. Anyone’s life could end.”
Going into Season 2, while she is still a bit naive to the world, I think when something does happen, she’s quickly snapped into reality, and she quickly dials in and says, “Okay, we’re not messing around. I don’t have this big burly man to save me. I just have myself. I have the love for my child, and I’m gonna have to figure out how to make it there on my own terms,” and not through physical violence with how Spencer is able to do.
Speaking of the big burly man, I do like that the season makes a point to show Alex writing to Spencer. How does her love and devotion to him and their baby really serve as that North Star for her? It feels like this epic love story is really helping her set her sights on what her goal needs to be, even when the cards are stacked against her.
SCHLAEPFER: Alex and Spencer’s love happened so quickly, but it’s the realest, purest kind of love there is. It’s in a time when there were no phones and no outside noise. Two people met, and they were like, “You are my soulmate. You are for me.”
In Season 1, I think Spencer kept her physically alive, and she kept him emotionally alive. This season, the thought of Spencer is keeping her emotionally alive. She has to remind herself of what she feels for him in his absence in order to keep herself going. She made a commitment to him and to the Dutton family when she said she’d meet him in Bozeman. When she ran off with him and when she married him, she left that other world behind and chose this new family and new life for herself. If there’s anything she is, she’s a woman of her word, and she’s loyal. She knows that she made a promise to him on the side of that ship in Episode 8 of Season 1, and she’s going to follow through.
New episodes of 1923 Season 2 premiere Sundays on Paramount+.

1923

Release Date

2022 – 2024

Network

Paramount+

Directors

Guy Ferland