The character of Ennis in the Yellowstone prequel 1883 barely had time to get his feet under the Dutton table when he was killed off, and actor Eric Nelsen, who played the fan favourite, has admitted he was just as emotional as everyone else at his demise.
Eric Nelsen’s sensitive cowboy Ennis quickly became a fan favourite in the Yellowstone prequel 1883, so it was a huge shock when the character was killed off in episode five.
And no one was more emotional about it than the 32-year-old actor himself.
“Oh my God, that was the hardest thing I had to shoot out of the entire show!” he told TV Line.
“Because of the emotion that I was feeling from Isabel and the emotion I was feeling from the entire cast… It took everything I had in me not to be bawling, crying, myself,” the actor continued.
“She’s screaming on me, she’s like pulling me apart emotionally. Literally, I was just trying so hard not to cry just based off of her reactions to it all.”
Ennis’ shock death came after bandits attacked the wagon train he was travelling with and shot him in the chest.
It came just after he and Elsa Dutton (played by Isabel May) had taken their relationship to the next level.
In a fit of grief, she killed his murderer before collapsing on the fallen cowhand’s body.
The pair’s relationship had viewers gripped, and he eventually got permission from her brother to court her.
Eric had previously told Newsweek that he actually confronted the show’s creator about his character’s demise.
“Once I read all the scripts, I ran to Taylor and I was like, ‘Why? Why? This is who we were rooting for the whole time.’ We’re rooting for this couple and we finally get them there and then it all falls apart.”
“And he’s like, ‘you’ll see. Keep reading. It has to happen this way.’
“So for Elsa’s journey, it’s a complete turning point in the story, and it sends her on a trajectory where she otherwise wouldn’t be heading, and it is pivotal for the character.”
However, his premature ending hasn’t put him off working for Taylor again.
He explained that he had told the showrunner that there wasn’t a role he could offer him that he would say no to citing working with him as “a dream”.
1883 is available to stream on Paramount+.