1883 is premiering its full season on Paramount Network, so we sat down with Thomas star LaMonica Garrett to dive deep into his experience filming the Yellowstone prequel.
In 1883, LaMonica Garrett gives life to Thomas: the storied Pinkerton Agent and veteran who steals every scene he’s in. His Buffalo Soldier has been through hell and back (as we learn throughout the season) but has found steady ground through kindred spirit Shea Brennan, played by the incomparable Sam Elliott.
These two are positively electric together, and 1883 gives both actors the grounds to craft the best performances of their careers in what remains Taylor Sheridan’s best television project to date.
With the show making a full series premiere on cable, I sat down with Garrett and his co-star, Ennis’ Eric Nelsen, to reflect on the whole experience and how it’s changed him forever.
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It was great to catch up with LaMonica now that the show has been out for well over a year, and you’ll find his insight below.
It’s been a year and a half since 1883 hit audiences. What is sticking with you about this experience all this time later?
People come up to me and tell me that, after they watch 1883, the characters stay with them for so long. And this story stays with them. That’s the same for the actors.
Like, I came home and… I wasn’t riding horses before this job. I wasn’t wearing cowboy boots before this job! But I haven’t worn my Jordans in a while, I’m still in my boots, and I ride like two-to-three times a month now. I’ve found different ranches out here where I can go ride. It does something to you on both sides of it, from the fans watching and the actors. It resonates and sits with you.
Not just saying this because I have you and Eric on with me today, but Thomas and Ennis are two of the best characters and performances on this show. You both give career-best performances as these men while performing with some of the most iconic personalities of the Western world. And it feels like a lot of that chemistry comes from the comfort you all had together. The family you built on this show.
Thank you, my man. I think that definitely started from the bonding that we began in Cowboy Camp. I got there a couple of days late because I was working on another show. But I got there, to the ranch, and everyone is sitting around and knows each other already. And I had just got my boots, but they embraced me!
We had a month of just bonding and hanging out together. It was when COVID was pretty much still the main thing. So we were all together all the time. We’d wake up on the same ranch, then go to breakfast together, then lunch together. Someone going to town to the grocery store? It’s ‘Hey, what do you need? Lemme jump in the car, I’m coming with you.’
So when filming started, it was a seamless transition because of Cowboy Camp and the bonding. And when we wrapped 1883, at the end of it, that was just the beginning. Tim [McGraw] has a concert in September in Long Beach somewhere. So I’m like ‘Hey! We’re getting the band back together!’ I’ve called everybody up, we’re going. The family we built through 1883 really was just the beginning.
This cast has been so embraced by true Western culture, and a lot of that comes from the authenticity of a Sheridan production. But 1883 also does such a fantastic job of touching on every facet of the American experience, one that’s still with us. It’s past, present, and future. LaMonica, I remember talking to you about putting on the Buffalo Soldier uniform for the first time and how it changed you, too. So what did 1883 teach you about that American experience?
It was a different time back then. People had less, but I think they appreciated more. Technology coming around made life easier, but in ways it’s made us lazier. So now, we don’t know how strong we really can be until the environment makes us be that strong.
1883 was that. It was the harsh environment. Harsh living. Harsh way of life. And there’s people who stepped up to the plate. Not everyone survived! But those who did, their bloodline became stronger from these people.
When we’re pushed to the limit, we can go there. We are survivalists. We can be that. 1883 showed us that. It was a fly-on-the-wall look at a real time period in history. It’s funny, people say to me ‘I feel like if I was in a time capsule, or a time machine and I went back, I really think I’d see Shea [Sam Elliott] and Thomas just trottin’ down Fort Worth. It feels that realistic to people.
That is a credit to Taylor [Sheridan], his writing and his worldbuilding.
Who’s the better of the two of you on horseback, though? There’s a question.
Oh man, Eric all day! He’s a fish in water on a horse.
Eric: I don’t know about that. And there’s something about seeing LaMonica on a horse, because he’s just as big. It’s this insane visual! But man, at this point, we’ve had so much fun on horseback that you could throw us on any terrain and every one of the 1883 cast members could get through it on a horse. Which is just really cool to be able to say.
[Our full 1883 interview with Eric Nelsen hits tomorrow, June 20]
What’s next for you, LaMonica? Have you wrapped on Lioness?
Yeah man, that’s my next project. Lioness will be premiering July 23rd on Paramount Plus. It’s another Taylor Sheridan show. It’s with Zoe Saldana, Nicole Kidman, Morgan Freeman, Michael Kelly, and it’s a CIA spy thriller. So no horses, but ‘lotta big guns!
To end on a big note, what’s that one experience from 1883 that was life changing for you?
I think that the bonding that we had. And to some of the younger actors on this show… I’ve been around, I’ve done a bunch of stuff, and I’ve never had this experience. For a handful of the cast, this was their first or second job, and I kept telling them… This is not normal! This is something unique, you know? And I knew that, and was feeling it, when we were shooting it.
I think the one moment that sticks out the most, is when Sam [Elliott] and I were sitting on our horses, and we were watching the 1883 wagon train approach us for the first time in those early episodes. And Sam is sitting there saying:
“Look at this. I’ve never seen this in my whole life, and I probably never will again.”
No CGI. Not a fake wagon train. But twenty-eight horse-led wagons. It’s something different. That didn’t get lost on me, the whole experience. And it wasn’t lost on Sam, either.
There was also a fascinating moment to piggyback off what Eric said. Tom Hanks came on set. He was like “Yeah, I’ll go do the Western! I’ll come do it.” And his stuff was during the Civil War reenactment. This huge scene! And Tom Hanks is like:
“What are you guys doing here, Star Wars!? I’ve never seen a set this big!”
When you hear Sam and Tom Hanks talk like this, you knew it was a larger than life project that most actors don’t get the chance to be a part of. So, man, we were pinching ourselves every day on that set.
LaMonica Garrett stars in 1883, currently airing on Paramount Network every Sunday at 8 PM ET/PT.