Yellowstone Prequel 1923 Star Opens Up On ‘Hardest Scene’ They Had To Film

Like the original series, Yellowstone, the prequel 1923 features some truly violent scenes. In the series, Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren play Jacob and Cara Dutton, ancestors of the present-day John Dutton (Kevin Costner). The show is set 100 years before the original series at a brutal time in history.  One 1923 cast member has opened up on what was the hardest scene to film in the prequel series.

1923 star Aminah Nieves on filming hardest scenes

Currently, 1923 fans are waiting for the second season of the prequel series. However, in the meantime, Yellowstone and 1923 cast members have been opening up about the show’s most shocking moments.

One of these cast members is Aminah Nieves, who plays the indigenous character, Teonna Rainwater. She recently opened up to Deadline about her brutal storyline. In season 1, Teonna and other indigenous women suffer horrifying abuse at the hands of the Catholic nuns running a boarding school.

Looking back on the most intense scenes, Nieves praised the “amazing stunt crew” who were responsible for the more intense sequences. She particularly spoke of the shocking moment where Teonna exacts brutal revenge against Sister Mary (Jennifer Ehle). Nieves said:

That was the hardest scene for Jennifer and I to do together. For Teonna, it wasn’t joyous for her. It was the hardest thing she’s ever had to do because she sees Sister Mary as an abuser.

But it’s just like what she told her: ‘I am the land, no one who is the land is killing you’. In that moment she’s sitting there with her thinking, I wish she could have understood that we are way similar than Sister Mary thought. We share the same soil. We walk the same.

Nieves wanted to honor her character deeply

Nieves explained how important it was for Teonna to have the chance to fight back after suffering brutal abuse. In fact, she said she communicated this to showrunner Taylor Sheridan. Aminah said:

I wanted to honor her deeply and didn’t want the public to see her as someone who they can take advantage of. He reassured me that she will get hers and she will be victorious.

As the Yellowstone universe continues to expand, the latest prequel is attracting equal success to the original show. It certainly makes fans long for the news of season 2 of 1923 to drop. In the meantime, read the full interview with Aminah Nieves here on Deadline’s website.