Elsa Dutton’s Spirit Lives On After Her D.eath In ‘1883’

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There’s no denying how far the Yellowstone franchise has come since Taylor Sheridan launched the flagship series back in 2018. Since then, the cowboy drama has grown into a greater universe, one that continues to add to the Dutton story from every place and time. But with Kevin Costner reportedly leaving the Dutton Ranch, many have wondered what will become of the land (and the show) once he’s gone. Thankfully, there are enough stories to tell of previous Duttons to keep the franchise going strong, with 1883 being one of the best.

Taking place in the titular year, 1883 follows the first Duttons to settle in Montana, including Tim McGraw’s James Dutton and his wife (both on-screen and off) Faith Hill’s Margaret. Of their two kids, one of them has made her mark on the larger Yellowstone Universe, particularly as the voice of the prequel miniseries. That’s right, if you were wondering who narrates 1883, it’s none other than Isabel May’s Elsa Dutton, the firstborn of James and Margaret, and one of the most tragic members of the Dutton family to ever step foot in Montana.

Elsa Dutton’s Story Is a Tragic One in ‘1883’

From the time her family leaves Fort Worth, Texas on their journey to Oregon, Elsa expects to live a life of adventure. This immediately gets her in trouble with her aunt, who doesn’t believe Elsa’s actions are particularly ladylike, but the younger Dutton doesn’t much care. To her, this migration is an outward symbol of the inward freedom she’s after, but she soon finds herself in a world of trouble. In the very first episode, Elsa is nearly raped before being saved by her father, and it’s then that she realizes how dangerous this journey will be.

Along the way, Elsa falls for a young cowboy named Ennis (Eric Nelsen), all while embracing the cowboy lifestyle as her own. After dancing around it for a while, the pair have sex one night after Ennis makes his intentions to eventually marry her, though he’s shot saving Elsa’s life from bandits before he can get the chance. Hardened by what’s happened, Elsa shoots Ennis’ killer and lies beside her lover’s corpse. It’s pretty terrible. But this isn’t the end of Elsa’s love life; in fact, she soon falls in love again, this time with a Comanche warrior named Sam (Martin Sensmeier).

After surviving a tornado together and bonding over time, Sam and Elsa, whom he has nicknamed “Lightning Yellow Hair,” decide to marry. But their happiness is likewise short-lived. Though Elsa first desired to stay with her new husband, she recognized that she needed to see her family’s journey through to the end before returning to him. As a result, she’s eventually killed after heroically defending the wagon train — but before she dies, James takes his daughter to the perfect spot, and it is there that the Dutton family decides to stay, settling in Montana instead of Oregon.

Elsa Dutton’s Spirit Lives On After Her Death in ‘1883’

Despite dying in Montana just before winter, 1883 ends with Elsa returning to the plains to be reunited with her husband Sam. It’s a strange ending given that most of the 1883 cast perish at the end of the show (and if not there, then in the flashbacks seen in Yellowstone’s fourth season), but feels on brand for Elsa’s journey. Just as she hoped to live beyond the confines that society put her in, so did she eventually escape them entirely in death. Her rebellious spirit likewise refuses to remain in the ground, and it’s her ghost that reunites with Sam in the afterlife.

Whether Sam is also dead is currently a mystery. Maybe the Comanche warrior can into the spirit realm? Or maybe he likewise died in battle, only to find his bride back where they vowed to meet again? Either way, it’s a beautiful ending that brings a glimmer of hope to an otherwise hard-to-swallow tale that reflects what many went through during the journey westward.

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Of course, this also means that, despite being dead, Elsa continues to narrate the final moments of 1883. With a now somewhat omnipotent view of her family’s history. “There is a moment where your dreams and your memories merge together, and form a perfect world,” Elsa says from the great beyond. “And that is heaven.” She goes on to describe the rest of her new world, where it’s filled with open plains, good horses, and no storms. There, she’s the only Lightning, and as she and Sam race off into the sunrise, she muses that death wasn’t horrid, it was beautiful.

Isabel May Returns for ‘1923’

It may have been a surprise to many who went on to watch 1923, but Elsa returns for the second prequel, itself a sort of sequel that follows her aunt, uncle, brothers, and nephew as they work to keep the Dutton legacy alive. Of course, she’s never seen on screen — she’s dead after all, and she’ll stay that way. But Isabel May’s voice returns to narrate the events of this new Paramount+ series from the great beyond.

Even in her own personal Heaven, she still sees what has become of her family, and she watches over their legacy from afar. Though it might seem like an odd creative choice at first, it makes sense when you consider that she is the entire reason her family ended up in Montana in the first place. Had she not died there, they would’ve continued on with the wagon train and ended up nearer to the coast. But her death bound the Duttons to Paradise Valley, and her bones bind her spirit to the land just as well.

Whether Isabel May will continue to reprise her role as Elsa, narrating future Yellowstone prequels, is uncertain at this time, but it stands to reason that, as long as the Dutton family resides on the land, so too will her spirit haunt it. Sure, we’ll probably never see her appear on-screen again (except maybe as another character, something Sheridan does every so often), but Elsa’s part in her family history lives on.

What’s Next For the Yellowstone Universe?

With Yellowstone nearly over, one might wonder what the Duttons might do once Costner’s John Dutton gives up his own ghost (or decides to move on, but that seems unlikely). Well, unsurprisingly, Taylor Sheridan has plenty of other Yellowstone-adjacent stories in mind, and some of them might be nearer than we think. Aside from the Yellowstone spin-off 6666 (or, Four Sixes), which has been teased for years, a direct sequel series, starring Matthew McConaughey is in the works at Paramount.

Additionally, this fall will see the release of Lawman: Bass Reeves, the first part in an anthology series about famous historic lawmen. Originally conceived as an 1883 prequel, Lawman is now its own series, though likely still takes place within the Yellowstone Universe. A third prequel, set after 1923 (which is still getting a second season) called 1944 is also in development, following the next evolution of Duttons into the Second World War. Knowing Sheridan, there are likely more, but for now, this is all we’re privy to regarding the next phase of Yellowstone​​​​​​.

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